marco@andromeda.RUTGERS.EDU (the wharf rat) (08/08/86)
One of my co-workers showed me an article in the DEC Professional
(Feb. 86) about user-written print-symbionts. In the code the author
includes as an example there is much complaining about "feeble attempts to
emulate strings in ForTran" . The author bemoans the fact that "more
sites don't buy VAX BASIC" . Now, the last time I was looking for a job,
I was offered several on systems programmed almost exclusively in VAX
BASIC. My question is : Given the other excellent compilers running on
VAXen, *why* would anyone insist on BASIC ? Especially someone working
at the level of print symbionts and similair fun stuff ? VAX ForTran
is _great_, so's the Pascal, why use BASIC, even as a teaching language ?
(The example code in the article is in ForTran, B.T.W.). All right,
VAX BASIC is better than most, but really now.... Are there some things
it does particularly well ? Maybe I'll use it for my new shell :-) !
W.rat