[Info-vax] OpenVMS system programming language

[Robert A. Brooks]

On 12/19/2024 01:56, David Meyer wrote:
> Does VSI have a preferred or official language for system programming
> for OpenVMS?
> 
> I know system programming for VAX/VMS was done in MACRO-32 and BLISS-32,
> and at least some system programs were written in C when Alpha was
> introduced.
> 
> VSI has the BLISS reference manual on the Legacy shelf.
> 
> Have all the MACRO and BLISS programs been ported to C or C++, or will
> they be in the future?

About 40% of the operating system is now written in C, 30% in both MACRO-21 and BLISS.

Work was done in the mid-90's to make it easier to write kernel mode code in C;
most of the MACRO-only JSB interfaces were jacketed with the ability to call them from C.

As a result, the "Writing OpenVMS Alpha Device Drivers in C" book (Szubowicz, Sherlock)
describes some of those changes.

-- 
	-- Rob