Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!decwrl!nsc!taux01!amos
From: amos@taux01.nsc.com (Amos Shapir)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: It looks like he's at it again!
Message-ID: <4193@taux01.nsc.com>
Date: 12 Jul 90 05:10:41 GMT
References: <2336@l.cc.purdue.edu>
Organization: National Semiconductor (IC) Ltd, Israel, Home of the Series 32000
Lines: 25
X-Hdate: 19 Tamuz 5750

In article <2336@l.cc.purdue.edu> cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>
>Most of the present assemblers are horrors, but there are a few, like CAL
>on the CRAYs, or COMPASS on the CDC 6x00 and related machines, which were
>a step in the right direction.

I don't know about CAL, but if it's as elaborate as COMPASS it's a step
in the wrong direction, or at least a step too far.  While some macro
capability is welcome, things like COMPASS are addictive; programmers
end up using them to write programs that looks nice in the source,
but the generated code ends up being worse than what any HLL would do.

>
>As for assemblers, adding weak typing and good macro capabilities (the
>macro should have an arbitrary syntax) to something like CAL would do
>a good job.

This is exactly what BCPL is; and BCPL begat B, and B begat C...
What we need is an intermediate level language, like C used to be
in the Good Old Days.

-- 
	Amos Shapir		amos@taux01.nsc.com, amos@nsc.nsc.com
National Semiconductor (Israel) P.O.B. 3007, Herzlia 46104, Israel
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