Be an OpenVMS Application Developer
Reviews
"Hands-on programming throughout the book provides a highly effective learning tool, and the best
practices, advice, and knowledge transfer from the author gives the reader the unique feeling that
they are sitting down next to a mentor, being coached through the tricks of the trade!"
"I had it shipped to the Netherlands for the price of $96. It arrived within a week of the order date.
Worth every dollar (euro). "
"Highly recommended for OpenVMS programmers (especially those new to OpenVMS who need a
good bootstrap). At the very minimum, a copy of this book should be purchased as an "office
resource" in every location where OpenVMS developers work."
"Amazing. This is a truly astonishing work and a MUST for everybody who is starting with
application developing, be it on VMS or not (I can not tell for others as I am starting myself). It is not
a book where you will find many theories about abstract topics but one displaying everything you
need to know by means of examples, explaining each example's important parts in-depth. You
really feel the experience of the author throughout the text! This is a book I'd try to take with me if my
house was burning down."
Ian Miller, OpenVMS.Org - OpenVMS News and Information
Reprinted from: http://www.openvms.org/stories.php?story=06/04/02/4453076
After I got over the surprise of seeing a new book on OpenVMS Software Development I wondered
at the title - this is an 800 page book with a CD! The book is intended for people who are familiar
with programming on another platform and are faced with maintaining an application on VMS
written using classic OpenVMS software tools. Perhaps a better title would be “What a person
unfamiliar with OpenVMS should know to maintain an OpenVMS application”.
Hughes describes uses of: the MMS and CMS tools from the widely used DECSET OpenVMS
software development toolkit; CDD; FMS; the RDB and MySQL databases. He also mentions other
tools often found in the OpenVMS application development environment such as VMSMAIL,
PHONE etc. Parts of OpenVMS which will be unfamiliar to a person transferring from another
platform, such as logical names and DCL symbols, are introduced as they will often be
encountered when maintaining an application on OpenVMS.
The book is based around a single application which is developed in each of DEC BASIC,
FORTRAN, COBOL, C and C++ using a variety of tools. Full source code is provided on the CD. By
repeatedly implementing the same thing in different languages the programmer familiar with one
language can learn about another. The presented code is not suitable for a production
environment but is intended to illustrate something being described in the text. For example the
error handling is not always fully implemented except when Hughes wishes to describe dealing
with errors.
Hughes describes building the application and typical ways of organizing the development
environment and highlights common pitfalls for programmers coming from other platforms. The
book is written in American English and in a casual style. Although it is easy to read some people
who are not native English speakers may not recognise some of the colloquial terms used. I don’t
think this will significantly hinder understanding.
Hughes has opinions about how things should be done and is not afraid to state them! Personally
I find an opinionated book easier to engage with because there is something to argue or agree
with. The final chapter is Hughes opinion on the state of the IT Industry.
The key to appreciating this book its specific focus. I think the target audience will find this a useful
resource to sit alongside the OpenVMS Documentation. However the material is also useful for an
OpenVMS developer faced with an application in a different programming language to the one they
usually use.
"DO NOT begin any new database projects without first reading chapter 13 (MySQL) and chapter
14 (Oracle-RDB) of this book. Hint: while you can acquire MySQL for free, and it may have a place
for some small applications, it may cost you more in the long run."
practices, advice, and knowledge transfer from the author gives the reader the unique feeling that
they are sitting down next to a mentor, being coached through the tricks of the trade!"
- Regan Windsor, Reader Views
"I had it shipped to the Netherlands for the price of $96. It arrived within a week of the order date.
Worth every dollar (euro). "
- Wilm Boerhout
"Highly recommended for OpenVMS programmers (especially those new to OpenVMS who need a
good bootstrap). At the very minimum, a copy of this book should be purchased as an "office
resource" in every location where OpenVMS developers work."
- Neil Rieck, OpenVMS Application Developer
"Amazing. This is a truly astonishing work and a MUST for everybody who is starting with
application developing, be it on VMS or not (I can not tell for others as I am starting myself). It is not
a book where you will find many theories about abstract topics but one displaying everything you
need to know by means of examples, explaining each example's important parts in-depth. You
really feel the experience of the author throughout the text! This is a book I'd try to take with me if my
house was burning down."
- Thierry Dussuet, OpenVMS Student
Ian Miller, OpenVMS.Org - OpenVMS News and Information
Reprinted from: http://www.openvms.org/stories.php?story=06/04/02/4453076
After I got over the surprise of seeing a new book on OpenVMS Software Development I wondered
at the title - this is an 800 page book with a CD! The book is intended for people who are familiar
with programming on another platform and are faced with maintaining an application on VMS
written using classic OpenVMS software tools. Perhaps a better title would be “What a person
unfamiliar with OpenVMS should know to maintain an OpenVMS application”.
Hughes describes uses of: the MMS and CMS tools from the widely used DECSET OpenVMS
software development toolkit; CDD; FMS; the RDB and MySQL databases. He also mentions other
tools often found in the OpenVMS application development environment such as VMSMAIL,
PHONE etc. Parts of OpenVMS which will be unfamiliar to a person transferring from another
platform, such as logical names and DCL symbols, are introduced as they will often be
encountered when maintaining an application on OpenVMS.
The book is based around a single application which is developed in each of DEC BASIC,
FORTRAN, COBOL, C and C++ using a variety of tools. Full source code is provided on the CD. By
repeatedly implementing the same thing in different languages the programmer familiar with one
language can learn about another. The presented code is not suitable for a production
environment but is intended to illustrate something being described in the text. For example the
error handling is not always fully implemented except when Hughes wishes to describe dealing
with errors.
Hughes describes building the application and typical ways of organizing the development
environment and highlights common pitfalls for programmers coming from other platforms. The
book is written in American English and in a casual style. Although it is easy to read some people
who are not native English speakers may not recognise some of the colloquial terms used. I don’t
think this will significantly hinder understanding.
Hughes has opinions about how things should be done and is not afraid to state them! Personally
I find an opinionated book easier to engage with because there is something to argue or agree
with. The final chapter is Hughes opinion on the state of the IT Industry.
The key to appreciating this book its specific focus. I think the target audience will find this a useful
resource to sit alongside the OpenVMS Documentation. However the material is also useful for an
OpenVMS developer faced with an application in a different programming language to the one they
usually use.
"DO NOT begin any new database projects without first reading chapter 13 (MySQL) and chapter
14 (Oracle-RDB) of this book. Hint: while you can acquire MySQL for free, and it may have a place
for some small applications, it may cost you more in the long run."
- Neil Rieck, OpenVMS Application Developer
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