Xref: utzoo alt.folklore.computers:8245 comp.unix.sysv386:3462 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery From: allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.sysv386 Subject: Re: SCO UNIX VMS and ULTRIX on new DEC product line Message-ID: <1990Dec29.043559.1294@NCoast.ORG> Date: 29 Dec 90 04:35:59 GMT References: <29029@usc> <18859@rpp386.cactus.org> <1990Dec28.022041.20793@mtxinu.COM> Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.ORG.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers Organization: North Coast Computer Resources (ncoast) Lines: 29 As quoted from <1990Dec28.022041.20793@mtxinu.COM> by shore@mtxinu.COM (Melinda Shore): +--------------- | In article <18859@rpp386.cactus.org> jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F Haugh II) writes: | >BLISS is best | >known for its use of "." in address notation. Just ask a BLISS-bigot | >to justify putting that "." in front of a variable name, then stand | >clear ;-) | | I hardly qualify as a BLISS bigot, but I really don't see that | .FOO is any odder than *foo or foo^, eh? +--------------- What's odd about it is that it's required by *every* variable. (For those who've never been exposed to BLISS: you don't declare variables, you declare addresses. "." is the dereference operator. So to use a variable, you must *always* use the dot to specify you mean the variable and not its address. This behavior is great for writing OS kernels, device drivers, etc., but is a bit baroque for application programs. I don't remember any other oddities; the extent of my exposure to BLISS was a manual for BLISS-10 that I borrowed for a few days some 9 years ago. It didn't interest me enough to follow up, especially after comparing the horrendous number of JSYSes in TOPS-20 to the number of system calls in Xenix 2.3a, which I had just discovered.) ++Brandon -- Me: Brandon S. Allbery VHF/UHF: KB8JRR on 220, 2m, 440 Internet: allbery@NCoast.ORG Packet: KB8JRR @ WA8BXN America OnLine: KB8JRR AMPR: KB8JRR.AmPR.ORG [44.70.4.88] uunet!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery Delphi: ALLBERY