Aucbvax.5940
fa.info-vax
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!info-vax
Sat Jan 23 23:56:27 1982
Transportability of code
>From decvax!duke!bcw@Berkeley Sat Jan 23 23:51:57 1982
My recent note about code transportability was not meant to
imply that it was impossible to write transportable code in C;
my point was that C tends to encourage machine-dependent code
(what exactly is the meaning of OR'ing two integers??? It's
going to have very different meanings on different machines).
Also, there are still a number of machines for which I haven't
heard of a C compiler (such as Harris, for example). Remember
too that some C compilers only run on specific operating systems
for the target machine -- which wipes out some which would be
otherwise useable. And as for compilers without a standard set
of I/O functions: that's portability???
About Bliss as a portable language -- there are only three
target machines which I have heard of Bliss compilers supporting:
PDP-10, PDP-11, and VAXen; and all of these only under DEC
operating systems. Not that it couldn't run on other machines,
but any inherent portability isn't going to be very useful unless
compilers exist for a significant number of architectures. If
such compilers don't exist, you'll have to write them yourself,
or find someone willing to do it for you.
I am aware that there are numerous problems with Pascal, but
the same can be said for every popular language (including C).
The point is that the technical merits of different languages
are unfortunately of secondary importance when the portability
of code is of paramount concern.
Bruce C. Wright @ Duke University
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