29 Sep
2026
29 Sep
'26
1:28 p.m.
Ah yes, RPG.... I used to write and maintain programs on an AS/400 in
RPG-III and /400 back in my youth. Good memories.
I know GCC has COBOL and also FORTRAN and ADA but I don't know of an RPG
compiler.
- Peter
On Tue, Sep 29, 2026 at 4:25 PM Paul Koning via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On Sep 29, 2026, at 3:44 PM, ben via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On 2026-09-29 11:36 a.m., Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
>> On Sep 29, 2026, at 1:22 PM, ben via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
>>
>> ... Like what machines other than IBM had binary and decimal computing?
> That depends. One answer is "all of them" -- because any general
purpose computer can do both.
True, but in 60's and 70's only PL/1 or subsets of it could do binary
and decimal computing in a high level language.I have not looked at any
newer languages cause nothing would ever port.
Um, you forgot COBOL! Which is still around; GCC now includes a COBOL
compiler. RPG maybe also, though I don't know that language. And nowadays
there is Python, though I don't know if the decimal arithmetic library on
Python/VAX would use those instructions.
> If you meant "had machine instructions
both for decimal and for binary
arithmetic", the answer includes the PDP-11 and VAX, and I think the Intel
4004 had instructions used as building blocks in decimal arithmetic.
You must of had a custom PDP 11 then.
Nope. It's the "commercial instruction set" which was an optional feature
on several PDP-11 models sold by DEC, clearly documented in the PDP-11
architecture manual, and supported by at least COBOL and probably RPG; the
kernel would also use the CIS MOVC instruction for memcpy if present in the
machine. There is of course the famous PDP-11/74 (one of two unshipped
models of that name) which was an 11/70 with CIS added, canceled around the
time the VAX came out. Internal rumors were that it was due to it being
faster than the VAX for COBOL workloads.
paul