Mumps: Difference between revisions
Drew.einhorn (talk | contribs) |
Drew.einhorn (talk | contribs) |
||
Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
* Compact data structures in storage |
* Compact data structures in storage |
||
** If you have less data to move it's faster |
** If you have less data to move it's faster |
||
* Tom Munnecke's Semantic Network model of data storage |
* Tom Munnecke's Semantic Network model of data storage, NEED to gather excerpts from his Hardshats post and ask him to elaborate. |
||
NEED to get larry to tell about performance processing log files and extracting information. |
NEED to get larry to tell about performance processing log files and extracting information. |
||
Revision as of 21:48, 1 March 2008
Porting VistA to the OLPC. For introduction to VistA components see VistA Monograph Wiki.
Mumps
Mumps is a programming language used primarily in medical and financial information systems.
The back end server for VistA is written in Mumps.
Mumps is an old language. It was born in the days when a 16-bit address space was the state of the art in minicomputers. It shows its age. I has been called obsolete, ugly, ... It is not a fashionable language.
Mumps is scary
Most folks don't get past a negative initial impression and appreciate its strengths. The sample code at the bottom of the Mumps Wikipedia article is pretty scary!
Strengths
- Speed
- Compact data structures in storage
- If you have less data to move it's faster
- Tom Munnecke's Semantic Network model of data storage, NEED to gather excerpts from his Hardshats post and ask him to elaborate.
NEED to get larry to tell about performance processing log files and extracting information.
No Young Blood
Mumps programmers are mostly old and gray haired, retiring and becoming a scarce resource.
The Vista Expertise Network is teaching Mumps and beginning a mentorship program pairing new Mumps programmers with retired Mumps experts.
GT.M
For the OLPC WorldVistA project we are using the open source GT.M Mumps compiler.