[Info-vax] Userland programming languages on VMS.

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In article <st4sup$gh9$1 at gioia.aioe.org>, Richard Maher <maher_rjSPAMLESS at hotmail.com> writes:
>On 28/01/2022 4:08 am, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 1/27/2022 2:31 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>> On 2022-01-27, Arne Vajhøj <arne 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++.
>> 
>> I believe Basic would be a lot better than C.
>> 
>> Arne
>> 
>
>And COBOL is the besterest.
>
>And if you can program some MACRO then you need a Garbage Collect to 
>cover up yor lack of skill in managing memory.

I've never needed "garbage collection" and I've written some very large and complex
products all in Macro!  
-- 
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG

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