Hey mark!

Feb 13 13:58 05, mark lewis wrote to Maurice Kinal:

 ml> but then it wouldn't have been storable in a longint ;)

Do you mean 64 bits?  That would be extremely doable.  Then again it
potentially could mean 128 bits to a few systems.

You must be doing 16 bit DOS-think.  ;-)

 ml> ya gotta remember when this stuff was developed and what languages 
 ml> were being used... (borland) pascal was one of the most common... 
 ml> basic and c were also used with c getting more use as time marched 
 ml> on...

It doesn't matter.  I was working with 64 bit systems back then and had to
port FORTRAN source from my 386-16, where I liked to experiment with ideas,
to a 64 bit UNIX enviroment.  I managed.  What is their excuse?  My best
guess is they didn't really understand what they were doing.  Has little to
do with language unless one can't think beyond it's
"limitiations".

 ml> if one takes a good look at structures for many FTN tools, apps, and 
 ml> even bbs', one can easily see the pascal influence by the data 
 ml> structures used...

I suppose but most of what I see has little to do with any language
whatsoever.  Most of the problems relate to lack of vision rather then any
so-called OS limitation, such as DOS, which is obviously still haunting all
of us.

The reason I like perl is that I can easily experiment with ideas without
jumping through too many hoops and could port these scripts to a compilable
language without too much difficulty.  Also perl kick's butt when compared
to other scripting languages as far as basic IO goes, as well as the
availabilty of some truly good modules.  For instance comparing perl to php
I have found the same functions are vastly superior in perl and yet looking
out there on the web I see the opposite being employed.  That is one reason
I don't care much for web interfaces, although there are a few other good
reasons as well which don't have much to do with perl, so I won't bother
elaborating.  Anyhow perl works great on the console so I am happy with it.

I believe a good perl ftn module would be a desirable commodity.  What do you think?

Life is good,
Maurice

--- Msged/LNX 6.1.2