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Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #164767

Re: BLISS

From usenet@only.tnx (Questor)
Newsgroups alt.folklore.computers
Subject Re: BLISS
Organization ask the NSA
Message-ID <575735ef.21428362@nntp2.rawbw.com> (permalink)
References <nj1fdd$li5$1@dont-email.me>
Date 2016-06-07 21:04 +0000

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On Sun, 5 Jun 2016 16:10:31 +0100, "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339"
<no.spam@thank.you.invalid> wrote:
>Inspired by the PL/I thread, I've had a look at BLISS for the first time.
>
>Interesting the dot notation to cause a variable name dereference in sharp
>contrast to the C technique of using "&" to force a reference!

Except that C doesn't require "&" in an assignment statement, so there still is
an l-value/r-value dichotomy.


>I wonder how many bugs came about in BLISS programs because of
>the unnatural need to use dot compared to other languages?

One gets used to it very quickly when working with the code all day.
It did result in an interesting bug once.

A program that had been working for years started failing one day with a page
fault, and I quickly determined that what had changed was the KL had received a
microcode update.  I scrambled to find another machine that hadn't yet been
upgraded to determine how it had worked previously.  I discovered there was a
missing dot operator, and consequently the pointer to a field specified a
non-existant page.  Under the old microcode, the write operation triggered the
creation of a page, the page map was duly updated, and the value written to an
otherwise empty page.  When the program subsequently went to read said value
with the same pointer, there it was -- right where it had been written.
I don't remember the reason for the microcode change, but now the same write
request caused a page fault.  Anyway, I added the missing dot to the pointer
construction and all was right with the world again.

The big problem with the dot operator is that a period does not have a lot of
"visual redundancy," if you will.  It is at the mercy of fading ink ribbons,
coffee stains, blurry CRT screens, etc.  I don't know what the better choice
would have been, but I wish someone had found it.

Otherwise, I like the clear line that BLISS draws between l-values and r-values.

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BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-05 16:10 +0100
  Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-05 15:25 +0000
  Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-05 12:25 -0400
    Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-05 18:41 +0100
  Re: BLISS Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> - 2016-06-05 12:20 -0700
    Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-05 23:08 +0100
      Re: BLISS Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2016-06-06 07:38 +0200
        Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-06 09:33 +0100
          Re: BLISS Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2016-06-06 13:05 +0200
            Re: BLISS jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-06-06 13:35 +0000
            Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-06 14:54 +0100
              Re: BLISS Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> - 2016-06-06 08:03 -0700
                Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-06 16:07 +0100
                Re: BLISS Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> - 2016-06-06 08:11 -0700
                Re: BLISS jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-06-07 12:11 +0000
                Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-08 02:31 -0700
                Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 10:26 +0000
                Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 12:01 +0100
                Re: BLISS scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2016-06-06 16:48 +0000
                Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-07 16:14 -0400
      Re: BLISS JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2016-06-06 14:16 -0500
  Re: BLISS jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-06-06 13:35 +0000
  Re: BLISS usenet@only.tnx (Questor) - 2016-06-07 21:04 +0000
    Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-07 22:30 +0000
      Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 10:23 +0100
        Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 10:24 +0000
      Re: BLISS jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-06-08 12:09 +0000
        Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 12:27 +0000
        Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-08 07:48 -0700
          Re: BLISS Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-06-08 15:21 +0000
          Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-08 11:50 -0400
            Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-08 09:32 -0700
            Re: BLISS - broken bar Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2016-06-08 15:35 -0400
              Re: BLISS - broken bar Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-09 10:52 -0400
              Re: BLISS - broken bar Joe Makowiec <makowiec@invalid.invalid> - 2016-06-09 20:11 +0000
                Re: BLISS - broken bar Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-10 06:45 -0400
          Re: BLISS jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2016-06-09 12:25 +0000
            Re: BLISS Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2016-06-09 10:23 -0500
              Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-09 08:49 -0700
            Re: BLISS "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-06-09 20:07 -0400
              Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-09 19:11 -0700
                Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-09 19:16 -0700
      Re: BLISS "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-06-11 10:09 -0500
        Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-11 16:05 +0000
          Re: BLISS Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-06-11 19:27 +0100
            Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-11 18:46 +0000
          Re: BLISS "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-06-12 09:45 -0500
    Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 10:21 +0100
    Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-08 07:26 -0400
      Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 11:33 +0000
        Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 13:30 +0100
          Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 14:07 +0000
            Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 15:39 +0100
              Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-06-08 07:56 -0700
                Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-08 11:50 -0400
              Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 15:27 +0000
              Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-08 11:50 -0400
                Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 17:13 +0100
                Re: BLISS mausg@mail.com - 2016-06-09 09:37 +0000
                Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-09 10:52 -0400
              Re: BLISS Alan Bowler <atbowler@thinkage.ca> - 2016-06-28 18:53 -0400
                Re: BLISS Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-28 19:47 -0400
                Re: BLISS "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-06-28 20:00 -0400
                Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-29 09:19 +0100
                Re: BLISS "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-06-29 04:43 -0400
                Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-29 09:17 +0100
                Re: BLISS Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-07-12 17:07 -0700
                Re: BLISS mausg@mail.com - 2016-07-13 14:22 +0000
                Re: BLISS mausg@mail.com - 2016-07-13 14:41 +0000
                Re: BLISS Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-07-13 16:50 +0100
                Re: BLISS mausg@mail.com - 2016-07-13 19:24 +0000
                Re: BLISS Alfred Falk <falk@arc.ab.ca> - 2016-07-13 23:13 +0000
                Re: BLISS Bob Martin <bob.martin@excite.com> - 2016-07-14 06:06 +0100
                Re: BLISS Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-07-14 09:12 +0100
            Re: BLISS Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-06-08 15:42 +0100
              Re: BLISS Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-06-08 15:21 +0000
                Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 16:44 +0100
                Re: BLISS "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2016-06-11 10:19 -0500
                Re: BLISS Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2016-06-13 16:20 +0000
              Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 15:28 +0000
        Re: BLISS Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2016-06-08 14:40 +0100
          Re: BLISS Bob Eager <news0006@eager.cx> - 2016-06-08 14:08 +0000
          Re: BLISS Alan Bowler <atbowler@thinkage.ca> - 2016-07-12 19:15 -0400
            Re: BLISS David Wade <dave.g4ugm@gmail.com> - 2016-07-13 17:39 +0100
      Re: BLISS "gareth G4SDW GQRP #3339" <no.spam@thank.you.invalid> - 2016-06-08 13:29 +0100

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