[Info-vax] Userland programming languages on VMS.

[abrsvc]

On Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 2:31:50 PM UTC-5, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2022-01-27, Arne Vajhøj <ar... at vajhoej.dk> wrote: 
> > On 1/27/2022 11:25 AM, John Reagan wrote: 
> >> On Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 3:39:38 AM UTC-5, Dave Froble wrote: 
> >>> Why C, when there are better languages? 
> >> 
> >> If you are about to use the B-word, better is relative. 
> > 
> > Obviously. 
> > 
> > But not everybody is in love with C. 
> > 
> > Personally I consider C a fine language for OS kernel development 
> > but not so great a language for more regular applications. And 
> > DIR is really an application. 
> > 
> > I am not good at VMS Basic, so I would prefer VMS Pascal. 
> > 
> >:-) 
> > 
> 
> Pascal is acceptable, but Ada would be better. :-) 
> 
> On a more serious note, what would be an acceptable programming language 
> for userland tools which need to be shipped as part of the operating system ? 
> 
> Let's look at the language options for creating a new userland level 
> tool on VMS today: 
> 
> Macro-32 and BLISS are absolutely unsuitable for obvious reasons. 
> 
> Basic appears to be a poor choice when compared to the alternatives available. 
> 
> Ada is no longer available on VMS going forward. 
> 
> C is suitable, but is low-level. 
> 
> C++ is a possibility (provided a sane subset of the language is used). 
> However, am I the only one who finds that C++ compilers across all 
> operating systems get slower and slower as new versions some out ? 
> Look at how long it takes to compile the LLVM toolkit for example. :-( :-( 
> 
> Pascal is also very much a possibility. 
> 
> Fortran and COBOL are not suitable for writing operating system userland 
> tools. 
> 
> So what programming language would you use for a new userland tool on VMS 
> if you couldn't use Pascal ? As far as I can see, it's only C or maybe C++. 
> 
> Simon. 
> 
> -- 
> Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP 
> Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

I suppose that the language chosen would depend upon what the "tool" does.  I see no reason why Fortran couldn't be used or Basic for that matter.  What difference does it make what language is used?  As long as the appropriate RTLs are available, use what ever language you want.  I have written code in many languages and use the one that makes my life easier.  Just recently, I coded a MACRO32 module, because it was faster to code that way than to do the same thing in Pascal.  I have used Fortran in a similar situation.  I look more at what I am trying to do and use the language that will be the easiest.

Dan