RE: An introduction to MI by example II (part B)...

[Leif Svalgaard <l.svalgaard@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I also think I'll keep quiet on this topic as it does not bring us any
further.
I'm of course kidding myself into believing I'm closer to the machine.
I don't want to be. I just want to use MI as a tool when it makes
sense to.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon.Paris@halinfo.it [SMTP:Jon.Paris@halinfo.it]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 10:17 AM
> To:   MI400@midrange.com
> Subject:      Re: An introduction to MI by example II (part B)...
> 
> 
> 
>  >> MI (old and new) is what defines the virtual machine that *is* the
> AS/400.
> 
> You are taking this way too seriously. The AS/400 is brilliant - agreed
> 100% but
> MI does not define the virtual machine.
> 
> It was, as I said, an intermediate language output by the compilers that
> IBM
> allowed (or not at different times) people to use directly. I suspect that
> if C
> had been available back on the S/38 that users would never have been
> allowed to
> use MI, but that is speculation on my part.
> 
> Even if I were to accept the argument that MI defined the VM - that would
> _only_
> be true of CISC machines with the two level microcode. MI is no more
> native to
> the RISC boxes than COBOL or RPG. On RISC, the closest to "real" MI you
> can get
> is MI-prime, which as I noted before is a derivative of W-code. IBM will
> make
> this available but only for a fee - last time I heard they wanted
> $1,000,000 !!!
> 
> Let me reiterate my point. There is nothing wrong with programming in MI,
> just
> as there is nothing wrong with programming in RPG, COBOL, Java or anything
> else.
> Just don't kid yourself that you are coding to the machine. If this were
> the
> case don't you think that IBM would still be having their compilers
> generate MI?
> The fact that IBM's own tools no longer do so should give you the hint.
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