[Simh] off-topic basic translator

[Johnny Billquist]

Not adressing Göra specifically.

VAX Basic is not like GW-BASIC. I suspect the differences are large 
enough that we could almost call it two different programming languages...

Anyway, I'm confused by this whole thread.

First of all, VAX Basic is still around. But you still need VMS. I think 
it's called HP Basic nowadays. The naming went: BAX Basic -> DEC Basic 
-> COMPAQ Basic (I suspect) -> HP Basic. But the OP asked for something 
for VMS. So he should be good, and there is no need to do anything. The 
hobbyist program covers hobby use, so you can get a license, install it, 
and be happy. No money involved.

You should be able to find some info you you just manage to locate the 
VMS information at HP. HP is confused, so I'm surprised if you have 
problems finding any kind of information there.

Second - translating stuff from VAX Basic to C++ - I fail to see the 
problem. Normal strings in VAX Basic are dynamic. std::string should fit 
the bill perfectly. Strings in MAPs are static in size and location. No 
different than a char [] in C or C++.
MAP statements as such are actually pretty much a 1:1 mapping to a 
static defined struct in C or C++. If you want to do I/O related to a 
MAP, you'll just do the I/O to the static struct instead, and you're there.
COMMONs are the same thing as MAPs, so the same static structs in C work 
for those too.

For strings, you will need some special assignment and compare operators 
to make it work identical. In VAX Basic, an assignment to a static 
string (such as in a MAP) will pad the string with spaces at the end. 
And there are two string comparators. The normal equal operation will 
consider two strings to be equal even if there are different trailing 
spaces on either or both strings. There is a second string compare 
operator if you want to check for exact equality, including string 
length and trailing spaces.

The FIELD statement is just some more data shuffling related to I/O. 
Nothing difficult about it.

MAT statements is something I would skip, as that is more complex, but 
seldom used.

I think that error handling would be a rather difficult part in any 
translation, though. I don't even care to go into that story here.

But the things other have mentioned, I've touched on above, and they are 
not hard to translate for the most part. But Perl would *not* be a 
language I would translate to.

	Johnny

On 2015-08-05 08:33, Göran Åhling wrote:
>
>
> Den 2015-08-04 kl. 17:52, skrev Dan Gahlinger:
>> 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.
>>
> If "modern systems" is included in the set of {Win; Mac OSX; Linux;
> Android}, why not stay BASIC?
> http://www.qb64.net/
> I have used it to make old GW-basic-programs usable in a PC of today
> (ie. >= Win 7).
>
> The snag was to run an old GW-basic, load the program into it, and then
> save the program using Ascii-mode, to get a file that QB64 can load.
> (Actually a file that looks like a LIST print-out, as opposed to the
> GW-basic native format)
>
> It is described in Microsoft Knowledge base: Article ID: 80745
>
> I was astonished how much of structural-programming possibilities and
> support that has been put into this modern BASIC, the step from "old
> days" style that was more close to Fortran-4 is immense! It can
> definitively be used to write "Pascal-looking" programs.
>
> In my case, one of the programs I converted didn't work properly, so I
> ended up correcting it - taking all line-numbers away was a great start,
> as the problem was hidden in GOTO:s by the original author...
>
> Besides from using the QB-64 once, I have no hooks to it or to its
> development...
>
> /Göran
>
>> 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
>> http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Simh mailing list
> Simh at trailing-edge.com
> http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh
>


-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol