Conference turris::pascal

    DEC Pascal on Windows NT seems to come up every year so I'll put in
    1997's note...
    
    Can I have an update on the status (online or offline)? I have a
    customer asking. I don't know what the customer's reason for asking is
    but I think we are not talking megabucks.

    Here's the current status:  We have a compiler/rtl that runs almost
    all of the test system.  We have a preliminary installation script
    using InstallShield.  We don't have any documentation (User Manual,
    Installation Guide, Help File, etc.)  It isn't hooked up to anything
    like the Developer's Studio, its just a command-line based compiler
    at present.  BTW, this is all Alpha Windows NT, not Intel (just
    incase you might confuse the two).
    
    I've been pushing to turn it into a product.  However, as you note,
    we're not talking megabucks.  The lack of any hard evidence that we'll
    sell any kits leads to the "conclusion" that we won't sell any kits.
    
    If anybody else thinks that they could sell even a few of these, put
    a reply here and perhaps we can start to acculumate enough evidence.
    Keep your fingers crossed.
    
    My argument is that while we won't sell 10,000s of DEC Pascal on NT,
    there are enough customers in OpenVMS environments that are adding
    NT systems (ie, Affinity), that some set of customers with investment
    in DEC Pascal code will want to move some of that code to NT systems.
    
    				-John

re .10
    
>BTW, this is all Alpha Windows NT, not Intel (just in case you might confuse
>the two).
    
    No risk of confusion (-: but I had ASSuMEd that the customer meant
    Alpha NT. The customer confirms Alpha NT.
    
    The customer also opines that for the use envisaged by *this* customer,
    the current functionality would be adequate (e.g. command-line
    interface, no integration into development environment since that is
    basically what they are using from VMS). [I suspect that some kind of
    integration with a debugger would be needed, despite what the customer
    says or implies. Who would want to go back to the days before source
    code was available in the debugger?! I remember when...]

    The customer doesn't have a specific requirement (e.g. porting code)
    but is just evaluating options to move into Windows NT. Most (all?)
    existing software is written in DEC Pascal and it would be desired to
    use one compatible language across the two operating systems.
    
    Obviously if we (Digital) don't provide DEC Pascal on NT then many
    customers (not specifically this one) will either go to some other
    vendor's Pascal or go to another language (can you spell C?).
    
>However, as you note, we're not talking megabucks.
    
    I meant not megabucks from this one particular customer. We are talking
    about one or two licences.

    I didn't mention, but the compiler in its current state does have some
    debug abilities with either windbg or from inside the debugger in VC++.
    You can see the source, examine registers, examine a few basic types (I
    think, I'm not sure...), but not much more at this point.
    
    				-John