Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
Ahh, RPL! My first MV experience was 4th Feb 1983 when I met a CMC Reality running RPL at a bus factory in the English Lake District. Several years working on manufacturing software that originated from SMI followed both there and at Trifid in Cheshire on Ultimates and Adds Mentor (running RPL+) before we converted it all to basic and moving to UniVerse. Can't add much to the history of it all though George On 07/02/2011 23:03, fft2...@aol.com fft2...@aol.com wrote: I'm thinking it might be good to write up an article about RPL. If any of you has knowledge of the history of the language, the company, etc. you can email me, and we can collaborate on getting it all laid out... straight. Will ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
I'm thinking it might be good to write up an article about RPL. If any of you has knowledge of the history of the language, the company, etc. you can email me, and we can collaborate on getting it all laid out... straight. Will In the late 80s I worked with Ultimate Pick on a VAX, running software from SMI. That system used RPL as its native programming language. This was the Ultimate PICK that ran on an add-in board. RPL was an interesting language. I remember having to add NOP instructions into programs so that a subroutine wouldn't span groups or something. % variables were regular variables, and variables were file buffers. There was an equate that sort of worked, but I remember it being problematic. Charles Shaffer Senior Analyst NTN-Bower Corporation ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
In a message dated 2/8/2011 6:02:44 AM Pacific Standard Time, charles_shaf...@ntn-bower.com writes: In the late 80s I worked with Ultimate Pick on a VAX, running software from SMI. That system used RPL as its native programming language. This was the Ultimate PICK that ran on an add-in board. You are the first person I've encountered who ran Pick on top of VMS on the VAX. I am the only person I've met who run it on the MicroVAX. I added that to my article here http://knol.google.com/k/will-johnson/the-ultimate-corp-aka-ultimate-compute r/4hmquk6fx4gu/703#view ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
I actually wrote an RPL compiler for UniVerse - I guess that was about 15 years ago. It actually started out quite nice.. it did everything in the RPL81 manual and was a tidy piece of C on SunOS. Then I delved into the 'undocumented' functions .. and by the time I had handled as many of those as I could the poor compiler was completely unrecognizable and unmaintainable. Not soon after, my colleagues banned me from writing C/UNIX. Ever Again. I particularly liked the way you could arbitrarily kill entries from the return stack and jump into another routine bypassing 'n' statements. Using X for multiplication and for the exit command was nice too as was the fact that literals didn't need to be quoted. I do like reverse polish math.. it keeps you on your toes. Though the Microdata chaps missed a trick by not emulating the extended input statement and keytrapping when they did PROC. Brian -Original Message- From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org [mailto:u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of fft2...@aol.com Sent: 08 February 2011 17:06 To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Subject: Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al In a message dated 2/8/2011 6:02:44 AM Pacific Standard Time, charles_shaf...@ntn-bower.com writes: In the late 80s I worked with Ultimate Pick on a VAX, running software from SMI. That system used RPL as its native programming language. This was the Ultimate PICK that ran on an add-in board. You are the first person I've encountered who ran Pick on top of VMS on the VAX. I am the only person I've met who run it on the MicroVAX. I added that to my article here http://knol.google.com/k/will-johnson/the-ultimate-corp-aka-ultimate-compute r/4hmquk6fx4gu/703#view ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
Was your RPL compiler for Universe ever actually installed on a commercial system ? -Original Message- From: Brian Leach br...@brianleach.co.uk To: 'U2 Users List' u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Sent: Tue, Feb 8, 2011 12:57 pm Subject: Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al I actually wrote an RPL compiler for UniVerse - I guess that was about 15 years ago. It actually started out quite nice.. it did everything in the RPL81 manual and was a tidy piece of C on SunOS. Then I delved into the 'undocumented' functions .. and by the time I had handled as many of those as I could the poor compiler was completely unrecognizable and unmaintainable. ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
From:Charles_Shaffer I remember having to add NOP instructions into programs so that a subroutine wouldn't span groups or something. That's funny - one of the issues I need to fix in the compiler right now is the requirement for a NOP when some statements in object code cross frame boundaries. T ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
I'm thinking it might be good to write up an article about RPL. If any of you has knowledge of the history of the language, the company, etc. you can email me, and we can collaborate on getting it all laid out... straight. Will ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
No more OT digressions, please? I'm quite familiar with RPL. The owner is my client. I do RPL/assembler work for them. I know it's history and where it's actually sold and supported now. But I don't want to discuss this in the U2 forum or any other forum really. Thanks. From: Will I'm thinking it might be good to write up an article about RPL. If any of you has knowledge of the history of the language, the company, etc. you can email me, ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
Uh... and ? I didn't ask you Tony. I have no idea why you want to be smart. The history of Pick is not OT for a U2 group. So cool your jets. -Original Message- From: Tony Gravagno 3xk547...@sneakemail.com To: u2-users u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Sent: Mon, Feb 7, 2011 5:07 pm Subject: Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al No more OT digressions, please? I'm quite familiar with RPL. The owner is my client. I do RPL/assembler work for them. I know it's history and where it's actually sold and supported now. But I don't want to discuss this in the U2 forum or any other forum really. Thanks. From: Will I'm thinking it might be good to write up an article about RPL. If any of you has knowledge of the history of the language, the company, etc. you can email me, ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al
My first Pick job was in 1985 on a Honeywell Ultimate. Our programming language was RPL from Systems Management, Inc. I still have my RPL81 manual in a three ring binder. Steve - Original Message - From: fft2...@aol.com To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 5:03 PM Subject: Re: [U2] RPL was Pick History et al I'm thinking it might be good to write up an article about RPL. If any of you has knowledge of the history of the language, the company, etc. you can email me, and we can collaborate on getting it all laid out... straight. Will ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3428 - Release Date: 02/07/11 ___ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
