[Info-vax] Better languages than BASIC

[John Reagan]

On 1/12/2024 2:27 PM, John Reagan wrote:

> 
> I wrote a lengthy reply to this to answer your (and others) questions. I 
> don't see it online however.  If it doesn't show up at some point,
> I'll dig it out of some sent folder and resend.
> 

2nd attempt:

- There are MANY customer applications written in VMS Pascal with
many of them in the millions of lines.  Still an important legacy
language. Just like we aren't forgetting BASIC.

- Why so "early"?  Partly that I know the compiler and RTL's build
system, test system, configuration scripts, etc. It was "easy" and it
didn't use any really sketchy coding practices (BASIC compiler, I'm
looking at you).  I'll give credit to several former developers
(including myself).  As a piece of trivia, the Pascal RTL was originally
developed by "Mr Fortran", Steve Lionel.

- VMS Pascal has many of the features from the Extended Pascal standard
from the late 1980s (that's where all the things like schema types came
from).  Several of the features in EP came from Digital with slightly
different syntax (direct file access for example).  Borland did
participate on the X3J9 committee but was more concerned with low level
concepts like wanting to "standardize" PEEK and POKE and ignored the
rest.

- There was an Object-Oriented Addendum to the Extended Pascal standard.
Pretty much matched the C++ of the day along with a little Oberon mixed
in for fun.

I think that the Prospero (now defunct) Extended Pascal compiler
actually implemented it
http://www.edm2.com/index.php/Prospero_Software

- I don't see the need to add OO to VMS Pascal.  There are several other
languages to choose from these days.  We have added a feature or two
over the years based on customer requests (the last "big" feature was
my addition of the SELECT/SELECTONE statements patterned after the
BLISS equivalents).  With all the discussions around what it means to be
a 64-bit program, perhaps I should get the compiler to be more flexible
with its handling of 32-bit vs 64-bit descriptor forms.

- And the online Pascal docs will be updated soon (I just finished the
review of the Reference Manual and I'm about done with the User Manual).
The revision adds x86 works AND incorporates a bunch of stuff from the
release notes that have never made it to the manual.  [I've been doing
lots of doc review lately.]