[Simh] BLISS ( was Re: 101 Basic Games for RSTS/E (was Re: PDP11 on Simh for public access))

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2018-01-26 20:38, Clem Cole wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 2:17 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se 
> <mailto:bqt at softjar.se>> wrote:
> 
> 
>     I don't think BLISS-16 ran on PDP-10, but I could be wrong. I've
>     never seen or heard anything about BLISS-16 running on Alpha or beyond. 
> 
> ​Gem did exactly that conceptually.​

Wasn't/isn't GEM the compiler core used for most languages later on? I 
didn't think BLISS itself was using GEM, but I don't know at all. 
However, I believe/assume/think I heard that GEM itself is written in BLISS.

>     I guess it could be possible to do, but I sortof doubt anyone did.
> 
> ​It's a testing problem.   DEC was not only doing emergency fixes ​for 
> the PDP-11 by the time of Alpha, so I agree.   I don't think TLG did 
> anything with the EOL systems by then, they had their hands full with 
> Vax, Alpha and 386; plus all the front ends.

When the Alpha came out, the PDP-11 was not dead. But I would not expect 
that much work was done anymore. They had tools and products, which they 
continued to use and improve. But moving to a new platform for any of it 
would have been very doubtful.

>     If anyone have the bits, I would be very interested in hearing about
>     it, as I would like to recompile some bits and pieces. (Any BLISS-16
>     compiler would be a good start.)
> 
> ​VMSinc had the Gem compiler as part of their license.   As I say, they 
> have Neil hacking on it again.   But I believe that he is only worried 
> about Itanium and INTEL*64 at the moment.​  I also do not know what they 
> are doing with the front-ends.   Clearly, they are working with the 
> BLISS front-end, but I have not idea what HP has them doing for the 
> other languages.  I would expect to see C/C++/Fortran brought forward at 
> least through the dialect that DEC/Compaq/HP had at EOL, so customer 
> code will recompile, since I know of OVMS code in those three languages.

Yes, BLISS is being worked on, as is GEM. I saw some comment by on the 
progress and issues around this from some VSI person not long ago.
But all that is far removed from anything PDP-11 related.

   Johnny

-- 
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