[Info-vax] Kednos PL/I

[gah4]

On Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 12:23:51 AM UTC-7, Paul Hardy wrote:
> gah4 <ga... at u.washington.edu> wrote: 
> > The PL/I compiler I used most over the years, is the IBM PL/I(F) compiler 
> > that dates back to the 1960's. I do remember an error message like 
> > "SEMICOLON MISSING, ONE INSERTED" where it inserts one into the 
> > internal representation and continues on. Often with strange results.

> I remember (in 1974) submitting a PL/1 program to the IBM checkout 
> compiler, which ran using up my complete cpu time quota and produced no 
> output at all. I resubmitted it to the optimising compiler which used a 
> couple of seconds and said “Mismatched quotes”. 
 
> I’d missed out a close quote early in the program, so all my program code 
> had disappeared into literal text, and all my output messages and error 
> texts had become program. The checkout compiler had had a fit trying to 
> turn the messages into valid PL/1 program! 
 
I never used the checkout compiler, and I believe only a little the optimizing compiler.

About 25 years ago, I got an IBM AT/370, which is a card that fits into a PC/AT
(or, with some luck, an AT clone), runs the VM/PC operating system, and runs
a version of CMS.  (By then, they dumped them and someone was selling
them for about $20 each.)

My first project was to get PL/I (F) running on it.  

I got the demo version of the Tachyon assembler to assemble it,
got the object programs to the AT/370, and did manage to get it to run.
It takes about 5 minutes to compile a three line program.

A few years later, I found someone who knew the person at IBM who built
the P/370.  P/370 is a Microchannel card that runs in a Microchannel
PC running OS/2.  It is a full emulation of a 370, unlike the AT/370.
I had OS/VS2 and VM/370 running on that one.  Runs much better 
than the AT/370!  And I had PL/I (F) on that one, too.

But I haven't run any PL/I programs for years now.