,,, Wang VS | |
This was a very Unique OS, I have seen nothing similar to | |
it at all. | |
What follows are some notes I remember about it. I used | |
and developed on this OS for over 18 years, but my memory | |
is a bit fuzzy. | |
* The hardware was very robust. By that I mean it the | |
hardware could be abused to the point were other | |
vendors' hardware would have failed. I have seen | |
these systems in computer rooms that were constantly | |
kept above 95F (35C), water dripping on them from | |
a leak roof for hours on end, dust everywhere. | |
These were perfect for manufacturing environments. | |
* Only 2 type of files, Indexed (ISAM) and Consecutive | |
(Text). | |
* Record Sizes can be set as Fixed or Variable Length. | |
* Consecutive could be looked at as UNIX Byte Streams, | |
but not really. | |
* A Flag could be set to allow the File to be | |
compressed or uncompressed. | |
* Backups were performed to 9 tack reel tapes. | |
Also the multiple CRC Errors on restore will give | |
you a good reason to drink :) | |
* Disk Drives were call Volumes. | |
* Only 1 "Directory Level". On the VS these were | |
called "Libraries". | |
* Max Library and File Name Size was 8 characters. | |
* No lowercase characters. | |
* There is no concept of a "Command Line", all | |
activates where accomplished via TUI Screens. | |
* No such things as "file extensions". | |
* Instead of saying "I deleted a file", one would say | |
"I scratched a file". That was very common usage | |
for people and customers using the VS. | |
* Users did not have what one would call a home | |
directory. | |
* If I remember correctly, you set Volume/Library/File | |
Access based upon user ID (it has been a while). | |
* Development tools were quite good, you had 2 full | |
screen editors, "EDIT" an "ADEPT", plus a number of | |
code generation tools. | |
* Creating TUI screens were trivial, easier than | |
anything I have seen since. TUI Screen Creation on | |
the VS puts UNIX curses to shame. Also, the screen | |
generators on SAP where terrible when compared to | |
what the VS had. | |
* The Terminals you connected to the VS were not dumb | |
but I think an 8 bit tiny computer. | |
* When Microsoft Windows came out, Wang created an GUI | |
Application you could use to connect to the VS from | |
your PC. | |
* There was a database system called "PACE", with PACE | |
you could create a very complex business application | |
within 2 days. The tools were very smart, I have | |
seen nothing as powerful or easy since. It is too | |
bad PACE was not ported to other Systems. | |
* These were pre-internet systems, but could be | |
networked using WSN (Wang System Numbers). | |
* Kind of odd, but you could execute Wang WP on the VS. | |
Supported languages: | |
==================== | |
* COBOL | |
* FORTRON | |
* PL/1 | |
* C | |
* assembler, rather similar to IBM Mainframe assembler. | |
* Procedure Language, a powerful scripting language. | |
* There were others that I have since forgotten about. | |
Wang VS Procedure Language Examples | |
SHA512 for "Wang VS Procedure Language Examples" | |
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