[Info-vax] OpenVMS system programming language

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 12/19/2024 1:56 AM, 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?

Brooks already explained what VSI actually has in the VMS code base.

Since I am not with VSI then I can better speculate and my
guess is that:
- VSI would like to rewrite all the remaining Bliss and Macro
   to make maintenance easier
- VSI does not have the money to start a systematic migration
   of all the remaining Bliss and Macro because migrating that
   many millions of lines would be too expensive (I stuffed some
   random numbers into a COCOMO style model and it said 1500
   man years!)

If you are really asking what language you should use for
writing VMS code interfacing closely with the OS (more close
than just using documented LIB$ and SYS$ calls), then I will
suggest C. C is officially supported for writing device drivers
nowadays and I believe they have a subset of the C RTL that is
safe to call in inner modes.

Arne