fish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (01/26/84)
A lot of net.lang readers have asked that I forward any info I might get on
a PL/I compiler to run under UNIX/{VAX;PDP-11;etc.}. Sorry folks, I've had
no luck, but I won't give up hope.
I think the problem might be that UNIX runs on a lot of different computers.
'C' would have to be available on all of them, and FORTRANosaurus is probably
available, but PL/I is pretty tough to do on some machines. I think it's
partially because of the interface with the operating system (ALLOCATE-FREE;
DCL smoosh FILE RECORD INPUT SEQUENTIAL;etc.), things that might not make
sense in a UNIX environment. There are some limited subsets of PL/I (like
PL/M) that might do, but I guess nobody's thought to develop a PL/something
compiler for UNIX. I think you could build a PL/I to 'C' trans-compiler
(yes, I did just make that up) if you really wanted to, but I don't think
I'd like to try. I'll keep my ears open, though.
Bob Fishell