Structured Languages SIG Newsletter

Summary

This newsletter from the DECUS Structured Languages Special Interest Group (SIG) covers several key updates and technical articles regarding programming languages and tools for Digital Equipment Corporation computers.

• Leadership Change: The long-time chairman has stepped down after four years, handing over leadership to Bill Carroll.
• Praxis Language: An article by James R. Greenwood introduces "Praxis," a high-level systems implementation language developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for control and communications programming. It is described as a block-structured language in the tradition of Pascal, designed for efficiency and systems applications.
• Technical Tutorials: The newsletter includes extensive technical documentation on using the C programming language for "bare-machine" I/O and interrupt-driven programming on the PDP-11, including example drivers (DLDR.C).
• Utility Tools: A tool called "pipe" for the RT-11 operating system is documented by David O'Connor, which allows users to pass output between programs similarly to the UNIX pipe notation.
• Announcements: The document promotes an upcoming seminar titled "Pascal as a Second Language," featuring instructors Kathleen Jensen and Gil Roeder, and outlines the SIG's sponsored sessions for the upcoming spring symposium in Miami.