Re: backup archive format saved to disk

[hendrik@topoi.pooq.com]

On Fri, Dec 08, 2006 at 01:04:14PM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
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> On 12/08/06 12:22, Mike McCarty wrote:
> > hendrik@topoi.pooq.com wrote:
> >> On Thu, Dec 07, 2006 at 05:23:16PM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
> >>> On 12/07/06 11:26, hendrik@topoi.pooq.com wrote:
> [snip]
> >> I looked at it again a few years ago -- some bit rot has occurred in
> >> the lexical analyser, but most of it is still readable.
> > 
> > Huh. Interesting. I've got floppies which are more than 10 yrs old
> > which read perfectly.
> 
> By "lexical analyser", I *think* he meant, "I've forgotten some of
> the trickier syntax".

I meant, the compiler contained a lexical analyser, and there were some 
irrecoverable bad blocks on the magnetic tape that contained the source 
code for that lexical analyser.

If there was a prospect of reviving the compiler (I suspect it's not 
worth the effort except as a historical artifact) fillin in the 
missing code would be a very small part of the project.  Rewriting the 
code generator to generate other than IBM 360 code would involve more 
work, as well as rewriting the whole thing in another programming 
language so that it can be compiled and used on today's systems.

But to succeed in today's language market, it would probably have to be 
transmogrified into some kind of object-oriented Algol 68, which 
would be a very different thing.

-- hendrik