B6, Win64: Loading a Fortran program crashes SE

[jorick]

It was Advent.for, the original adventure game.  One of my engineers wants to use it as an Easter egg in one of our devices.

You didn't hear that from me.  I know nothing...

[mjdl]

Just for amusement+procrastination (since FORTRAN is a very vague memory for me in any case), I looked for an Intenet source to that adventure game and found a page with many versions in several languages.

I tried two versions from that page, advent-original.tar.gz which is described as the "original" version in PDP-10 FORTRAN ("There is probably no point in trying to compile this code on anything other than a PDP-10, because it depends on string packing of five characters per word of memory"), and advsrc.zip described as being in "portable FORTRAN source code". The PDP-10 version of advent.for loaded into B6 (x86 on Windows 8.1 x64) and locked it up (to be killed via task manager). The ASETUP.FOR source file of the portable version locked up B6, the other 3 files did not.

I'm attaching both sets of source in a zip file for others who still understand FORTRAN and want to attempt finding out what's bugging B6. (The staff at SlickEdit may very well have a PDP-10 lying around somewhere that they use as an emergency space-heater in North Carolina winters.)

[Tim Kemp]

I haven't used FORTRAN since a single class I took that required it in 1979; so I don't claim to "still understand FORTRAN". You are right, ASETUP.FOR hangs Slickedit nicely.

[mjdl]

The only time I used FORTRAN was in an introductory Comp Sci course sometime in 1973-4; source code and JCL was remotely submitted via some flavour (HASP?) of an OS/360 RJE subsystem (which resembled a punched card emulator) on an IBM 2741 Selectric terminal using the RJE line editor on fan-fold paper. I suddenly feel old.

[Tim Kemp]

We are coders. We are old. We are legion.

[Sandra]

Guys, no need to hide your Fortran.  We understand.

By the way, the hang is fixed for the next drop.

[jorick]

The only time I used FORTRAN was in an introductory Comp Sci course sometime in 1973-4; source code and JCL was remotely submitted via some flavour (HASP?) of an OS/360 RJE subsystem (which resembled a punched card emulator) on an IBM 2741 Selectric terminal using the RJE line editor on fan-fold paper. I suddenly feel old.

In 1972, I used a real card punch machine to program in Fortran for an HP2000F.  Gave my cards to the sysop in the afternoon and picked up the cards and result the next day.  No error codes, just success or failure.  If success, I got the printout to hand in as homework for my computer class.  If failure, search cards for possible errors and resubmit in the afternoon.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Some students never did hand in the work 'cause they could never find the error.

I feel older than you...

[mjdl]

We are coders. We are old. We are legion.

But it does feel a bit odd that my initial computing experiences predate the products on which Slickedit's vi and ISPF emulations are based. Maybe it should also have a TECO emulation as well so we won't feel out of place...

[Tim Kemp]

I'd feel pretty out of place using TECO. I remember when I first started used it. It was better than any editor I'd used before, but at this point I don't remember it at all and I'm sure I'd think it was sadly lacking. Of course I could say the same for several of the editors that Slickedit does emulate too.

[mjdl]

I'd feel pretty out of place using TECO. [...] I'd think it was sadly lacking. Of course I could say the same for several of the editors that Slickedit does emulate too.

Yes, TECO is actually a bad choice of example in this context; the IBM RJE line editors were closer to an edlin- or ex-like experience, with commands on the pattern of [line-range][operation(s)][parameter(s)], if I recall correctly.