Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!bcase From: bcase@cup.portal.com (Brian bcase Case) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Complex Instructions Message-ID: <17296@cup.portal.com> Date: 16 Apr 89 17:21:14 GMT References: <807@microsoft.UUCP> <92634@sun.uucp> <13322@steinmetz.ge.com> <573@loligo.cc.fsu.edu> <5064@hubcap.clemson.edu> <3169@bd.sei.cmu.edu> <38629@bbn.COM> <17167@cup.portal.com> <1003@quintus.UUCP> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 13 >>And in the case of the call instruction, I find the VAX complex instruction >>sorta insulting: assuming that compiler writers are too stupid to adhere to >>a common spec for inter-language call protocol. > >Try calling Pascal from PL/I under MVS sometime. I don't want this to get out of hand, and it might belong elsewhere anyway. BUT, was calling Pascal from PL/I under MVS a design goal? If so, then why doesn't the existence of the VAX's CALLS instruction guarantee this goal will be met? I guess this is yet another point: if the CALLS instruction was included so that inter-language calls "would just work," then it fails even at that!