[Info-vax] 64-bit (was Re: New CEO of VMS Software)

[bill]

On 1/9/2024 7:42 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 1/9/2024 7:14 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>> On Tue, 9 Jan 2024 18:33:13 -0500, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> I seriously doubt that any [noddy] users would take advantage of a
>>> conversion to 64 bit addresses.  So why bother?
>>
>> In the x86-32/x86-64 situation in particular, the 32-bit architecture is
>> known for being register-poor. This is alleviated somewhat in the 64-bit
>> extensions. This means a compiler can generate more efficient code using
>> the 64-bit instructions.
> 
> And?
> 
> The VMS 32 vs 64 bit discussion has nothing to do with traditional
> 32 bit vs 64 bit.
> 
> There has never been and never will be a VMS Basic for x86 (IA-32).
> 
> VMS Basic is expected to become available for VMS x86-64 any day.
> 
> And we expect it to store 32 bit pointers because that is
> what it does on Alpha and Itanium.
> 
> It will use x86-64 instructions and x86-64 registers and x86-64
> address space and so on.
> 
> And we are discussing whether it some day in the future should
> switch to use 64 bit pointers.

It's BASIC.  Why wold it eve need more than 64K of memory?

Sorry Dave, I couldn't resist.  ;-)

bill