[Info-vax] Screen management in C

[Chris Townley]

On 28/12/2024 00:32, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 12/27/2024 3:54 PM, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
>> On Fri, 2024-12-27 at 14:34 -0500, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>> This has been discussed previously here:
>>>>
>>>> https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.vms/c/ufBEqvGdglU
>>>>
>>>> That discussion has pointers to various examples,
>>>
>>> In general VMS Pascal/VMS Basic code should be maybe 25% shorter
>>> than equivalent C code. But with a descriptor centric API like
>>> SMG$ then it may be more like 40% shorter.
>>>
>>> One could make a nice wrapper in C++ encapsulating the context
>>> and convert between stl::string / C char array and descriptors.
>>>
>>> But then a full screen VT UI is a concept that has been obsolete
>>> for 30 years, so maybe there is little point.
>>
>> People are still writing apps using the console.
> 
> There is still a need to write command line tools. Mostly
> for system administrators and developers, but still there.
> 
> But full screen VT UI applications? I doubt many of those
> get written today. Whether custom code using SMG$ or one
> of TDMS/FMS/DECForms. The end users expectations for UI
> has changed. GUI or Web.
> 
> Arne
> 
In the mid naughties I used SMG to provide a better UI for HHTs on the 
shop floor - using a terminal emulator on the HHTs

Far better than the earlier implementation.

This was in Basic, where I wrote a couple of functions to front end it, 
then called the SMG routines.

Went down well on the shop floor

-- 
Chris