[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Robin Fairbairns]

 Bob Eager <rde42 at spamcop.net> writes:
>On Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:24:08 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:
>
>>> Because C came from the Unix environment and putting the Macro
>>> Pre-preocessor in the compiler would have violated the paradigm Unix
>>> was based on.  Thus, "cpp" and, of course, M4 as separate programs.
>
>An unrelated comment: m4 must be the worst macro processor I have ever 
>seen. I might be a bit biased; I've used the same one since 1971! It's 
>been ported to everytung; I did the VMS version sometime in the 1980s.
>
>  http://www.ml1.org.uk

my first task in my first job for the university was to clean up and
debug the titan implementation of ml/1.  (i learned it on the pdp-7,
when i was still an undergraduate; i've only ever used it on pdp-7 and
titan.)

ml/1 is good and powerful, but it tends to descend into obscurity if
you try to be clever.  just like tex (the system for which i've
written more macros than any other, and indeed, pretty much any macro
generation scheme that allows you to be clever at all.

i'm amused that ml/1 is still available.  if i can ever get the other
side of my accumulated deadlines, i might try playing with it again.
-- 
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge