[Coco] LIF util for OS-9?

[Steven Hirsch]

On Thu, 3 Nov 2011, Willard Goosey wrote:

> On Wed, Nov 02, 2011 at 10:06:31PM -0500, Joel Ewy wrote:
>
>> P-System like the Pascal intermediate code system?  I used that on the
>> Apple 2 for a class I took in high school, and I think it was also
>> implemented on the Sage, a 68000-based system I used a little in
>> college.  I think I still have my Apple P-System floppy disk.  Wasn't
>> the intermediate code supposed to work cross-platform, something like a
>> proto-JVM?
>
> Yep.  I know there was a P-system for Z80, as well. I've wondered a
> couple of times if the OS-9 Pascal compiler's P-code is the same, but
> never knew even where I'd start looking.

If it's claimed to be UCSD P-System, then the compiled P-code should be 
platform-neutral.  And, yes, the Pascal P-engine was the philosophical 
prototype for Java JVM.  "Write once, debug, err, run everywhere" has been 
the Holy Grail of computer science since day one.  I'll leave the question 
of whether that promise has ever truly been fulfilled up in the air.

I do have to admit that my more recent experiences with Java based 
applications have been far more pleasant than the first 10 years.  At 
least I'm down to (2) distinct runtime environments to support things I 
need.  In the early 2000's I had (5) at one point - most apps required not 
only a specific general revision level, but a specific _vendor's_ JVM on 
top of that and wouldn't run on anything else.  Left a seriously bad taste 
in my mouth.

Steve

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