Non-Fiction Computer Technology Review

“The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer”
By Roland Hughes
ISBN-10: 0977086607
Review by Heather Froeschl

Do you want to be an OpenVMS Application Developer? If you don’t know what that is, then you probably don’t need this book, but if you do, you’ve found the seemingly most comprehensive and readable guide to doing so. Roland Hughes’ offering, “The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer” is an abundance of information that you cannot afford to be without.

Here’s some background: “OpenVMS (Open Virtual Memory System) is a high-end computer server operating system. As a multi-user, multiprocessing virtual memory-based operating system (OS), it is designed for use in time-sharing, batch processing, real time, and transaction processing. It offers high system availability through clustering and distributes the system over many machines.” In other words, you need to know this!

This isn’t a beginner’s guide, to be sure. However, those in the IT industry will be thankful to Hughes as he describes uses of: the MMS and CMS tools from the widely used DECSET OpenVMS software development toolkit CDD FMS the RDB and MySQL databases. He describes other tools found in OpenVMS application development such as VMSMAIL, and PHONE. The book works readers through and around a single application which is developed in each of DEC BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, C and C++ using a variety of tools. On the accompanying CD, full source code is provided.

Hughes’ language is easy to understand. He doesn’t speak over the heads of the readers, nor talk down, and his tome is not the dry textbook form you may be used to. He uses humor and easy going guidance, making this likely one of the most readable IT guides out there.

Drawing on his vast experience and knowledge, Hughes rewards himself and the reader with a final chapter on the IT field. His guidance here is not so technical but rather personal when deciding where a developer wishes to work. His attention to company restrooms is something I did not expect to read about but is likely very valuable information. If you want to be an OpenVMS Application Developer, this is the book you need.