PLLS, a Portable Interactive Language System
Robert D. Russell, Louis Tremblet, David O. Williams · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science · 1985
PILS (a Portable Interactive Language System) has been designed and implemented at CERN to improve the portability of interactive programs used in the electronics test environment. The syntax of PILS is discussed, with emphasis on the features which distinguish PILS from some other interactive languages, such as data types, modules, control structures, full subroutines and functions with parameters, access to external (normally FORTRAN) libraries. The fact that PILS is written in PASCAL and has been designed for easy transportability is emphasised. PILS is a language SYSTEM which means that the command and editing interfaces are identical on all implementations. The status of PILS on various computer systems is discussed, and remarks are made on the status of the first PILS compiler (for VAX/VMS and VAX/UNIX) and on plans for future PILS versions. A particular implementation of PILS on a small CERN test system is briefly described.