Re: CLD vs. Autamatic Foreign Command; or what the heck do I use?

Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson wrote:
As, should probably be very aparent, I'm rather new to VMS, and am
playing at doing some programming. Given that I want to create
multy-platform utilities and applications, do I want to use the CLD,
what I believe is Command Language Definitions or the Foreign Command
... stuff?

Are ther any pros and cons I should be aware of? That is, what should
influence my decision? I *think* that using the CDL will feel more
_native_ than using Foreign Command stuff, but does that matter? To
whom?

I will assume that you with foreign command will use a
traditional Unix format switches.

For a multi platform app then I think you need to do one of:
- use foreign command with Unix style for same interface
- use CLD & CLI$ on VMS and getopt on Unix to use native interface
on all platforms


P.S. Slightly unrelated, but; what happens when two
installers/administrators do the following at the same time?:

$ SET COMMAND/TABLE=SYS$LIBRARY:DCLTABLES.EXE -_$
/OUTPUT=SYS$COMMON:[SYSLIB]DCLTABLES.EXE NEWCOMMAND.CLD

I have the feeling this is replacing the DCLTABLES.EXE and can create
a race condition? I know I'm probably missing the continuation
character, I'm not sure what it is.

You will get two new versions of DCLTABLES.EXE (remember
version numbers !).

Whether the highest version will have only one of the new
commands or both depends ...

Arne

PS: I think you have the continuation character ('-').
.