Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.franciliens.net!news.muarf.org!nntpfeed.proxad.net!proxad.net!feeder2-2.proxad.net!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!216.196.98.146.MISMATCH!border3.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news.iecc.com!nerds-end From: glen herrmannsfeldt Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: programming in PL/I Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:01:17 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 52 Sender: news@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <12-01-023@comp.compilers> References: <12-01-009@comp.compilers> <12-01-010@comp.compilers> <12-01-013@comp.compilers> <12-01-017@comp.compilers> <12-01-020@comp.compilers> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.iecc.com X-Trace: leila.iecc.com 1326601919 89143 64.57.183.58 (15 Jan 2012 04:31:59 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@iecc.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:31:59 +0000 (UTC) Keywords: PL/I, comment Posted-Date: 14 Jan 2012 23:31:58 EST X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.compilers:422 Derek M. Jones wrote: (snip, someone previously wrote) >>> Is there a reason to prefer PL/I over C++ or Java? (snip, someone else wrote) >> PL/I is more powerful than C, > Since both are Turing complete languages how is PL/1 more powerful? It seems to me that there are at least to ways to consider a language powerful. One is that it lets you do many different things, the other is that it allows them to be expressed easily. This has at least some connection to compilers, so maybe not too far off topic. One PL/I feature that C doesn't have is array and structure expressions. You can write: A = B + C; for arrays or structures (or arrays of structures) in PL/I, but you need loops, possibly nested loops, in C. (For structures, usually many statements, as it isn't so easy to loop over a structure.) Fortran now has array expressions, but still not structure expressions. > Probably the major reason why people promote the benefits of any language. (snip) > [This is getting a bit far from compiler design. PL/I suffers and > benefits from being a kitchen sink language. Cobol-style pictures > are really handy if you're doing formatted numeric I/O, just > strange otherwise. -John] I do hope that sometimes language feature discussions, related to the ability, or lack thereof, to implement them in a compiler would be on topic. I do remember Picture format and Picture variables, though maybe I never tried them. I liked the idea of picture format, but thought that picture variables were strange. I even remember that there were Picture format options for British Pounds/Shillings/Pence, though maybe not in newer compilers. -- glen [Those came straight from Cobol. For what they're intended for, printing tidy columns of numbers in reports, they work very well. -John]