Pshaw

I already had spent about 5 years in Unix and xenix and various derivatives at that point and I worked for a company that had a huge VMS investment. Probably the largest in North America.

So I had a project that required a database. SQL in some form, it could be Oracle it could be postgresql or whatever the commercial variant was at the time, it could be DB2. But I had to do a cost-benefit analysis and write the code to make it all work. It was about a six months of coding at that point. There was lots of c code that was the user interface that interacted with the SQL database on the back end. I initially coded it under MS-dos 3, with large memory extensions. I could do it on Unix or on VMS. I ported it to SCO Unix to prove it could run there. But I had free vax boxen available to me and the corporation really wanted me to use them. So I had to port everything I did to the corporate data center VMS to see if I can make it work.

Of course first I actually had to learn command line vax VMS. That was about two months of doing nothing but studying the books and playing. Then I had to learn Eve TPU. That is one evil editor. Then I was able to start moving my code to the system and compiling and seeing what failed in weird ways. That's when I learned I could see everyone's command line and their passwords when I looked at the process table under the VMS console. With random end user privileges.

I settled on Oracle. That meant that I could put it on the vax VMS system that the hardware was for free but I'd have to pay for support for the operating system and the cost of Oracle is about five times as much as the equivalent Unix platform. So I killed that idea and ended up on SCO Unix.

And thankfully never had to deal with the evils of vax VMS again.

Post #436,471 by pwhysall 9/29/20 10:50:52 AM 9/29/20 10:50:52 AM Reply	Pshaw It'd be written in Ada, and it would be VMS. If it's good enough for the uninteresting parts of nuclear submarines, it's good enough for you!
Post #436,472 by drook 9/29/20 11:04:54 AM 9/29/20 11:04:54 AM Reply	I suspect even those parts are somewhat interesting -- Drew
Post #436,475 by pwhysall 9/29/20 11:58:22 AM 9/29/20 11:58:22 AM Reply	Not when they're written in Ada, they're not
Post #436,502 by crazy 9/30/20 5:54:09 PM 9/30/20 5:54:09 PM Reply	I interviewed the guy who tought the Oracle pl/sql team I was looking for a pl/sql expert. I found this professor of computer languages who was looking for a consulting gig. So during the interview he explained that he teaches Ada. Other languages as well but that's his primary and he loves it. Then he explained how Oracle sent their coders to him when they were designing PL/SQL. I hate Ada. I hate pl/sql. And at that point I understood why.
Post #436,501 by crazy 9/30/20 5:46:25 PM 9/30/20 5:46:25 PM Reply	I had about a year of deep VMS I already had spent about 5 years in Unix and xenix and various derivatives at that point and I worked for a company that had a huge VMS investment. Probably the largest in North America. So I had a project that required a database. SQL in some form, it could be Oracle it could be postgresql or whatever the commercial variant was at the time, it could be DB2. But I had to do a cost-benefit analysis and write the code to make it all work. It was about a six months of coding at that point. There was lots of c code that was the user interface that interacted with the SQL database on the back end. I initially coded it under MS-dos 3, with large memory extensions. I could do it on Unix or on VMS. I ported it to SCO Unix to prove it could run there. But I had free vax boxen available to me and the corporation really wanted me to use them. So I had to port everything I did to the corporate data center VMS to see if I can make it work. Of course first I actually had to learn command line vax VMS. That was about two months of doing nothing but studying the books and playing. Then I had to learn Eve TPU. That is one evil editor. Then I was able to start moving my code to the system and compiling and seeing what failed in weird ways. That's when I learned I could see everyone's command line and their passwords when I looked at the process table under the VMS console. With random end user privileges. I settled on Oracle. That meant that I could put it on the vax VMS system that the hardware was for free but I'd have to pay for support for the operating system and the cost of Oracle is about five times as much as the equivalent Unix platform. So I killed that idea and ended up on SCO Unix. And thankfully never had to deal with the evils of vax VMS again.

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