[Info-vax] BASIC (was Re: 64-bit)

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 1/13/2024 9:54 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
> In article <unsbik$3jsdv$1 at dont-email.me>,
> Arne Vajhøj  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> The business application just builds on general purpose libraries.
>>
>> If the platform comes with good general purpose libraries, then
>> everything needed is there.
>>
>> If not so lucky then a custom library may be needed, but that
>> is a library not a business application thing. And that library
>> is not necessarily written by the same developer and not necessarily
>> in the same language as the business application. Different
>> skill set and different requirements.
>>
>> Basic and some ERP system. It uses some collections framework,
>> some XML and JSON libs, a database lib etc.. Money is made
>> from getting the application completed and out the door, not
>> from creating better libraries.
>>
>> Or Python and data analysis. The developer knows Python,
>> the data and how to interpret results. Deep down the
>> stack there are some matrix multiplication and inversion
>> code written in Fortran by a developer that knows nothing
>> about data analysis. What would happen if the Python
>> developer wanted to implement a custom matrix inversion?
>> Most likely not anything good!
> 
> This may all be true, but a) suggesting that business
> programmers can't or shouldn't implement elementary data
> structures seems a bit on the nose,

Some business applications developers can and should. Writing
good general purpose libraries is distinct from writing business
application, but the abilities are not mutually exclusive. Some
people have skills within more than one area,

>                                    and b) if the language makes
> it difficult to do so, that's a real shame.  BASIC is a general
> purpose programming language, not a DSL.

Most general purpose languages have areas where they are
strong and areas where they are not strong. VMS Basic is good
at reading, writing and manipulating text and amount - old style
business programming. It is not good for writing various dynamic
data structures, multi threaded programming or privileged code. I
would not even consider it a good choice for scientific
programming. Its competitor languages must be Cobol, PL/I, Dibol
and maybe Pascal - not Fortran, C, C++, Ada, Bliss and Macro-32.

Arne