[Info-vax] Userland programming languages on VMS.

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 1/31/22 12:42, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 1/31/2022 12:29 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 1/31/22 03:25, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>> On 2022-01-31 01:22, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>>> On 2022-01-29, Scott Dorsey <kludge at panix.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Pascal is pretty limited but makes it hard to shoot yourself in the 
>>>>> foot.
>>>>> And most implementations don't use null-terminated strings which 
>>>>> are the
>>>>> most serious source of vulnerabilities in C code.
>>>>> --scott
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I wouldn't call Pascal "limited". DEC used it to implement VAXELN...
>>>
>>> The problem is that the ISO standard for Pascal is pretty useless. 
>>
>> Pretty useless for what?  Tasks for which the language was not designed?
>>
>>> Which is why every useful Pascal have extensions...
>>> And they are all different...
>>> Which makes everything very non-standard...
>>
>> Thus the reason they should have come up with new names and not called
>> themselves Pascal, which they were not.
> 
> If they compile Wirth/ISO Pascal then it is somewhat justifiable
> to call them Pascal.

You are looking at it in the opposite direction from me.
If the Wirth Compiler compiles it then it is Pascal. If
I added a parser and code generator for FORTRAN to a Pascal
compiler would FORTRAN syntax then become Pascal?

> 
> But given how much the language get extended then it is
> really necessary to specify dialect.

Too much of it went far beyond mere dialect.

> 
> VMS Pascal, Object Pascal etc..
> 
> Borland took the consequence and eventually branded their
> Object Pascal product as Delphi.

And, to this day, I still see people calling Delphi Pascal
even thought the creator tried to change the name.

> 
> But I do not have a problem with the term "VMS Pascal".


I guess it doesn't matter what you call it.  The problem is
when you tell someone "Here is how you do it in Pascal" and
then present a solution in a language that won't compile in
a Pascal Compiler on any other environment.

bill