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Wang VS

This was a very Unique OS, I have seen nothing similar to it at all.

What follows are some notes I remember about it. I used this OS for over 18 years, but my memory is a bit fuzzy.

Only 2 type of files, Indexed (ISAM) and Consecutive (Text).
Record Sizes can be set as Fixed or Variable Length.
Consecutive could be looked at as UNIX Byte Streams, but not really.
A Flag could be set to allow the File to be compressed or uncompressed.
Backups were performed to 9 tack reel tapes. Also the multiple CRC Errors on restore will give you a good reason to drink :)
Disk Drives were call Volumes.
Only 1 "Directory Level". On the VS these were called "Libraries".
Max Library and File Name Size was 8 characters.
No lowercase characters.
There is no concept of a "Command Line", all activates where accomplished via TUI Screens.
No such things as "file extensions".
Instead of saying "I deleted a file", one would say "I scratched a file". That was very common usage for people and customers using the VS.
Users did not have what one would call a home directory.
If I remember correctly, you set Volume/Library/File Access based upon user ID (it has been a while).
Development tools were quite good, you had 2 full screen editors, "EDIT" an "ADEPT", plus a number of code generation tools.
Creating TUI screens were trivial, easier than anything I have seen since. TUI Screen Creation on the VS puts UNIX curses to shame. Also, the screen generators on SAP where terrible when compared to what the VS had.
The Terminals you connected to the VS were not dumb but I think an 8 bit tiny computer.
When Microsoft Windows came out, Wang created an GUI Application you could use to connect to the VS from your PC.
There was a database system called "PACE", with PACE you could create a very complex business application within 2 days. The tools were very smart, I have seen nothing as powerful or easy since. It is too bad PACE was not ported to other Systems.
These were pre-internet systems, but could be networked using WSN (Wang System Numbers).
Kind of odd, but you could execute Wang WP on the VS.

Supported languages:

COBOL
FORTRON
PL/1
C
assembler, rather similar to IBM Mainframe assembler.
Procedure Language, a very powerful scripting language.
There were others that I have since forgotten about.

SHA512 for "Wang VS Procedure Language Examples"

Wang VS Procedure Language Examples

Workaround for Download Failures

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$Id: wangvs.gmi,v 2.5 2023/11/13 16:33:36 jmccue Exp $