[Info-vax] Hard links on VMS ODS5 disks

[John Reagan]

On Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 1:32:25 PM UTC-4, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2023-07-19, Dave Froble <da... at tsoft-inc.com> wrote: 
> > On 7/18/2023 10:01 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote: 
> >> On 7/18/2023 9:25 PM, Dave Froble wrote: 
> >>> On 7/18/2023 8:47 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote: 
> >>>> On 7/18/2023 8:34 PM, Dave Froble wrote: 
> >>>>> On 7/18/2023 1:13 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote: 
> >>>>>> I am pretty sure that if VMS kernel had most Macro-32 and 
> >>>>>> Bliss code rewritten to C, then VMS kernel would be 
> >>>>>> smaller than just systemd. :-)
> David, please read this again. Arne is talking about the VMS kernel 
> being smaller than it currently is. I have no way to compare it to 
> systemd however. :-)
> >>>>> 
> >>>>> I have to wonder why you think re-writing in C would be "smaller" (whatever 
> >>>>> that is) than what's there today? 
> >>>> 
> >>>> Same functionality implemented in different languages 
> >>>> result in a different number of lines of code. 
> >>> 
> >>> So, you're talking about source files? 
> >> 
> >> Yes. 
> >> 
> >>> Do you also claim that the executable code would also be smaller? 
> >> 
> >> No. 
> >> 
> >
> > Then, what would be the benefit? 
> >
> For one thing, if you didn't have to worry about the Macro-32 and 
> Bliss crap, the VMS port would have been completed years ago. 
> 
> It's also a hell of a lot easier, quicker, and more robust, to 
> write something in C than it is in Macro-32 or Bliss. 
> 
You can keep saying that but won't make it true.  Yes, we had to make 3 cross-compilers
to do the port.  Even if the whole OS was written in DEC C with all the extensions in the code
base, we would have still had to make some sort of GEM-to-LLVM converter to get the DECC
compiler hooked to LLVM.  (And Macro-32 doesn't even use that GEM-to-LLVM converter).
It would have save person years of work as we were working on XMACRO in parallel with
the G2L code for BLISS and C.

As for "easier, quick, robust", that's a matter of skill.   The real benefits
of C over BLISS/MACRO include "floating point" and provided I/O package.