[Simh] off-topic basic translator

[Johnny Billquist]

Sigh! Spelling is worse than normal this morning...

On 2015-08-05 10:58, Johnny Billquist wrote:
> Not adressing Göra specifically.

"Göran".

> 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.

s/BAX/VAX/

> 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.

So I'm *not* surprised if you have problems finding any kind if 
information around 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

Yay!

	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