rayl@bionov.UUCP (Ray Lillard) (03/29/89)
I am a software consultant working with a client company with lots of code developed for RSX-11. We are casting about for a new system (hardware and software) to replace the existing imbedded target system. At the same time we are also addressing the issue of a development system. My personal favorite is of course, UNIX. VMS is the favorite of some permanent staff members. I have extolled the virtues of the UNIX software environment and have been told that VMS has tools which are equally good. (They haven't been using them and the results are obvious.) What I have been shown of VMS doesn't begin to cover the UNIX tools set. It seems that the concept of a regular expression is almost completely missing from VMS. The question: Are tools available under VMS which are as powerful as YACC, LEX, AWK, SCCS, grep, make, etc... to name a few. Please email responses to me at this account or post to one of the newsgroups other than comp.os.vms. This machine doesn't carry it. Also, please be rational, I don't wish to start a VMS bashing session. Thanks to all who respond.
todd@stiatl.UUCP (Todd Merriman) (03/29/89)
In article <401@bionov.UUCP> rayl@bionov.UUCP (Ray Lillard) writes: >I am a software consultant working with a client company with lots >of code developed for RSX-11. We are casting about for a new >system (hardware and software) to replace the existing imbedded >target system......... I do cross development between Unix, VMS, and MSDOS; and I have a few opinions on the subject. I consider Unix to be a superior *development* environment, but VMS to be a superior *production* environment. The variety of tools and power of the Shell make Unix an ideal choice for technical types and programmers. The sophistication of VMS, combined with its excellent documentation and reliability make it the clear winner in production. ...!gatech!stiatl!todd Todd Merriman * 404-377-TOFU * Atlanta, GA Note: I have no idea what my employer's views on the subject are.
eversoler@hw-allen.UUCP (Rick Eversole) (03/31/89)
In article <401@bionov.UUCP>, rayl@bionov.UUCP (Ray Lillard) writes: > I have extolled the virtues of the UNIX software > environment and have been told that VMS has tools which are > equally good. (They haven't been using them and the results > are obvious.) What I have been shown of VMS doesn't begin > to cover the UNIX tools set. It seems that the concept of > a regular expression is almost completely missing from VMS. > > The question: > Are tools available under VMS which are as powerful > as YACC, LEX, AWK, SCCS, grep, make, etc... to name > a few. VMS has tools that can replace SCCS and make. The VMS debugger is one of the better debuggers I've used. It is still superior the Microsoft Codeview debugger on the PC. MMS (module management system) is analogous to make. CMS (code management system) is anlogous to SCCS. Also interesting in VMS are SCAN (a lexical analysis language {I've never used it}) and the performance analizer (I can not remember real name of tool but it is a profiler) As for YACC, LEX, GREP, and AWK you have a couple of choices : 1) Purchase EUNICE from Wollongong and run a UNIX shell on your VMS system. 2) Obtain the GNU versions of these excellent developement tools. I used EUNICE under VMS for about 3 years. It is very close to a complete implementation of UNIX. We've had trouble with cron, uucp, and the berkley series of TCP/IP commands (rsh and rlogin). yacc, lex, awk, sed, nroff, grep, fgrep, egrep, cc and lint all work great! You can get LINT for VMS from the Free Software Foundation (GNU) or else from IPT (Information Processing Technologies). IPT's LINT-PLUS is very good. It also can be purchased to check FORTRAN (I've no experience with the Fortran version). LINT-PLUS catches everything that UNIX LINT does plus more. LINT-PLUS has a whole lot of options to control the things it reports on. I've used LINT-PLUS for 2 years and it has saved me on several occassions. LINT-PLUS messages are a whole lot less cryptic than UNIX LINT. For the first year I would use LINT-PLUS until I had eliminated all the messages. Then I would run EUNICE's UNIX LINT (nothing new would show up). I finally started using only LINT-PLUS. Now, I'm in an Apollo environment and LINT-PLUS is not readily available here. I have to use UNIX LINT..... oh well .... VMS does not really have pipes and that can be a real pain ! It aint' cheap but EUNICE on top of VMS will give you access to the best of both worlds. While in EUNICE you can use most VMS commands. Many can even be put in a pipe. This little feature has been very helpful on several occassions. Most of the pipe work I did in EUNICE tended to be a very one-shot deal. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Rick Eversole AG Communication Systems # No association with IPT or DEC # The views expressed are soley my own and not those of the # company. # Opposing views are welcome. UUNET!zardoz!hrc!gtephx!eversoler
session@uncw.UUCP (Zack Sessions) (04/03/89)
As far as grep and awk are concerned, grep is handled by the DCL Command SEARCH. And the functionality of awk, though in no way similar, can be done with the optional layered product, Datatrieve. Zack Sessions
phil@dhw68k.cts.com (Phil Suematsu) (04/05/89)
In article <401@bionov.UUCP> rayl@bionov.UUCP (Ray Lillard) writes: > ... What I have been shown of VMS doesn't begin >to cover the UNIX tools set. It seems that the concept of >a regular expression is almost completely missing from VMS. > >The question: > Are tools available under VMS which are as powerful > as YACC, LEX, AWK, SCCS, grep, make, etc... to name > a few. > I use the GNU Yacc, GNU Lex, DECUS grep, and a public-domain make for software development under VAX/VMS. The GNU software has distribution restrictions. If you distribute a binary that includes any of GNU's code, you have to distribute the source to generate the binary. DEC distributes a source control system called CMS and a 'make' type program called MMS. VMS has routines for terminal independent I/O (what you might use curses for under Unix). I also have the Zmodem file transfer programs sz and rz and the LZW compress programs from Unix working under VMS. I can't easily distribute things on tape, but I can easily distribute source code by MS-DOS diskettes if you are interested in the utilities I have that may be freely distributed (Yacc, Lex, Grep, Make). In summary, yes, you can have your Make and EDT it too. -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ Phil Suematsu | InterNet: phil@dhw68k.cts.com Optical Research | or uucp: ...{trwrb,hplabs}!felix!dhw68k!phil Associates | or Work: (818) 795-9101 or Home: (714) 633-0876 -- -----------------+------------------------------------------------------ Phil Suematsu | InterNet: phil@dhw68k.cts.com or phil@turnkey.tcc.com Optical Research | or uucp: ...{trwrb,hplabs}!felix!dhw68k!phil Associates | or Work: (818) 795-9101 or Home: (714) 633-0876