[Simh] off-topic basic translator

Tue Aug 4 16:58:59 EDT 2015

Per is not a usable language. Lol

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------
From: Ken Cornetet <Ken.Cornetet at kimballelectronics.com>
Date: 08-04-2015  4:55 PM  (GMT-05:00)
To: simh at trailing-edge.com
Subject: Re: [Simh] off-topic basic translator

Perl has goto. Just sayin'

Writing a VAX basic to perl translator sounds like fun, and when you are done, you'd have learned a usable language.

From: Simh [mailto:simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com] On Behalf Of Dan Gahlinger
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 4:38 PM
To: Kevin Handy; Tom Morris
Cc: simh at trailing-edge.com
Subject: Re: [Simh] off-topic basic translator

Then I'll have to do it myself by hand, which from the manual doesn't look that bad.
I'll test the vb2py script but I won't hold my breath.
I'm not going to write my own to translate a paltry dozen or so programs (even if some of them are long).

I shudder at having to translate "goto" :)
But from the manual link I provided on vax basic, it doesn't look terribly bad.
I'll probably convert to freepascal which has portability to many platforms, and is the one I'm most familiar with.

Vax Basic was probably one of the easiest languages I've ever had to learn, in hindsight it was probably a bad idea to learn it
so early on, should have learned C instead...

Dan.
________________________________
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 14:29:49 -0600
Subject: Re: [Simh] off-topic basic translator
From: khandy21yo at gmail.com<mailto:khandy21yo at gmail.com>
To: tfmorris at gmail.com<mailto:tfmorris at gmail.com>
CC: dgahling at hotmail.com<mailto:dgahling at hotmail.com>; simh at trailing-edge.com<mailto:simh at trailing-edge.com>
It won't help you. If you look at the section "Untranslatable Language Features" it specifically mentions that MAP, COMMON, and FIELD, and MAT statements are not habdled.

On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 2:19 PM, Tom Morris <tfmorris at gmail.com<mailto:tfmorris at gmail.com>> wrote:
If you want to target Python, you might look at using something like vb2py as a starting point.
http://vb2py.sourceforge.net/

Tom

On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 3:34 PM, Dan Gahlinger <dgahling at hotmail.com<mailto:dgahling at hotmail.com>> wrote:
I was thinking of this one: http://h71000.www7.hp.com/commercial/basic/t12/t12_pro.html
so definitely there was one, it's discontinued though.

I don't know what to do with MAP or MAT statements, otherwise I could do most of it myself.

C or C++ is not an ideal language, I was thinking of easier translations,
like say to freepascal or python, as they are most "basic like" in looks.
Strings as you say can be tough, but that's why pascal or even python is good,
strings are just strings.
basic was great for string manipulation because you could do literally anything.

I was kind of hoping someone might have a copy of the HP/compaq product listed above
I certainly don't want to buy it (though its discontinued so I can't) just to translate a dozen programs
that I wrote myself back in the 80's.

Update: it looks like I might be able to do it myself using this reference document:
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/vax/lang/basic/AA-HY15B-TE_VAX_BASIC_User_Manual_Feb90.pdf

Dan.

________________________________
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2015 12:29:01 -0600
Subject: Re: [Simh] off-topic basic translator
From: khandy21yo at gmail.com<mailto:khandy21yo at gmail.com>
To: dgahling at hotmail.com<mailto:dgahling at hotmail.com>
CC: simh at trailing-edge.com<mailto:simh at trailing-edge.com>

I don't think DEC ever did a translator, only compilers.
There used to be a company that sold one, but is definately wasn't free. Cannot remember their name.
I wrote a heafty part of a VaxBasic to C++ translater, but never handled MAP's or their like very well. It is useful to do a preliminary conversion, but then needs a lot of editing for most programs. Things like programd from "101 Basic Computer Games" mostly work without any problems. Nut it's been a while since I did anything with it.
Problems with the yranslations are mostly vaused by the way Basic handles variables, especially strings. C++ hastwo types of string (char* and std::string), but Basic has several different types mixed together. MAPs want a fixed length fixed position string which may overlap other strings. Normal nasic strings are variable length and variable position. FIELD statements can change a string from one type to another. It gets quite complicated without writing the DEC string library, which is quite complex.

On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 9:52 AM, Dan Gahlinger <dgahling at hotmail.com<mailto:dgahling at hotmail.com>> wrote:
Does anyone have or know where I can get a copy of the Vax Basic translator?
Especially for VMS or windows or something?

I'd like to convert my old Vax Basic programs to something usable on modern systems,
but while Vax Basic is simple enough there are a few things I have trouble with,
such as MAP statements, records, etc.

I've tried looking on the HP/etc sites and it seems it's been discontinued,

does anyone have a copy I can use, or know where I can get one?

I don't want to pay for a product, as this is just hobbyist use for personal programs I wrote

thanks

Dan.

_______________________________________________
Simh mailing list
Simh at trailing-edge.com<mailto:Simh at trailing-edge.com>
http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh

_______________________________________________
Simh mailing list
Simh at trailing-edge.com<mailto:Simh at trailing-edge.com>
http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh

_______________________________________________
Simh mailing list
Simh at trailing-edge.com<mailto:Simh at trailing-edge.com>
http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/pipermail/simh/attachments/20150804/2cc05f2e/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
Simh mailing list
Simh at trailing-edge.com
http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh