FOREWORD to the 1st edition of Eugene Volokh's book
THOUGHTS AND DISCOURSES ON HP3000 SOFTWARE
(the collected works of VESOFT, 1984)
by Alfredo Rego, ADAGER
(Library of Congress call number: QA76.8.H173 V65 1989, 4th ed.)
Compatibility is the key issue in any relationship. Two good
entities, if they are incompatible, can cancel each other out and
become nothing. Two average entities, if they are compatible, can
grow together to greatness. Two entities that are great to begin
with, if compatible, can grow together to unsuspected heights of
achievement.
The issue of compatibility applies equally well to chemicals, to
software modules, to computer peripherals, and, of course, to people.
I have certainly suffered my share of violent explosions in the
Chemistry lab, in operating systems, in hardware, and of course, in
human interactions. All due to incompatibility. And I have, luckily,
also enjoyed harmonious gourmet meals, intelligent software, effective
computers and marvelous friendships. All due to compatibility.
Why are we compatible with some people and incompatible with others? I
do not know. Ideally, we should avoid incompatible relationships.
Unfortunately, the universe seems to have other plans for us. Except
in rare cases.
For me, one of these rare cases involves the Volokh family. Whenever
I have met with any Volokh (Vladimir and Anne, the parents, or Eugene
and Sasha, the sons) I have also managed to, somehow or another,
become a better human being.
In the specific case of the Hewlett-Packard software world, I have
certainly enjoyed many pleasant discussions with Vladimir and Eugene.
We are users of each other's software, and, through our sometimes
frustrating experiences, we have contributed to the evolution of our
products. We agree on many things and, naturally, we disagree on
some. But, as Fred White says, we disagree agreeably. General
compatibility even in the presence of a specific incompatibility here
and there!
I am glad to see some of Eugene's ideas collected in this volume. I
hope you will enjoy them as much as I enjoy them. And I hope you will
take them and create new and better things as a result. After all,
that is the whole idea of compatibility!
A BOOK REVIEW
by Robert M. Green, ROBELLE Consulting
Published by The HP CHRONICLE, May 1984.
"The Collected Works of VESOFT: Thoughts and Discourses on HP3000
Software", by Eugene Volokh, is a collection of presentations made by
Volokh during a period from 1981 to 1984. Included are such classics
as "The Truth About Disc Files" and my favorite, the wildly funny
"Adventures of Wilfred Harrison, Intrepid Programmer."
The book addresses an amazing range of areas, including narrow
technical problems, broad management concerns, esoteric theory with a
light-hearted approach, and practical tips that you can apply
tomorrow. In 1982, I was pleased to publish one of these papers, "The
Loader Error Messages According to VESOFT," in my own little blue book
- the SMUG II Proceedings. It was subsequently reprinted by others
and may even make it into the next version of the MPE HELP subsystem.
The following are typical of the book's contents (the commentaries are
my own):
* "Determining disc space used by files given file parameters" (Just
what I need to fix that bug in the Keep Command)
* "There is a way to highlight the security violation messages on the
console" (That is a good idea for our system - printing logon errors
expanded).
* "A different approach uses an undocumented feature of the FOPEN
intrinsic" (Could I use that feature to hide a password more
securely?)
* "Never :RELEASE a program file that exists in a group which has PM
capability!" (Oh my gosh, I do that all the time...)
* "Every vendor must have spent many a sleepless night worrying that
if his product was so wonderful and sold so well, wouldn't it just be
a matter of time before HP stepped in and tried to sell a similar
product?" (Isn't that the truth)
* "The VINIT Command cannot be used in a :STREAM, so we do a :RUN
PVINIT.PUB.SYS. (I forgot that Eugene was the one I heard that trick
from...)
* "COMMAND ABORTED DUE TO IMPOLITE REQUEST (CIERR 989)" (These
computer-friendly commands are amazing.)
About VESOFT
VESOFT, Inc., a Los Angeles-based software house, was founded in 1980
by Vladimir and Eugene Volokh. Since then, over 6000 HP3000
installations have become users of one or more of the company's major
products, MPEX/3000, SECURITY/3000, VEAUDIT/3000. Eugene's expertise
and knowledge has marked him as one of the leading specialists in the
field of the HP3000 software.
Vladimir Volokh is a computer scientist and author of books and
articles on pure and applied mathematics.
Book Review
by Vernon W. Dunn
Published by The SUPERGROUP Magazine, Sep-Oct 1984.
"The Collected Works of VESOFT: Thoughts and Discourses on HP3000
Software" by Eugene Volokh is a collection of speeches, papers,
presentations and user group meeting proceedings (some of which were
previously published in SUPERGROUP Magazine) and a collection of
"Winning at MPE" columns previously published in Interact Magazine
(November 1983 to April 1984). All chapters 1983 to April 1984). All
chapters deal with topics of interest regarding HP3000 software.
Ten chapters deal with topics covered in papers and speeches given
to user group meetings or published by them. Two chapters promote
VESOFT products. And the last six chapters are the "Winning at MPE"
columns.
Since the book is collection of articles, it is not design as a
textbook, but rather as a reference manual. As a reference manual, it
is a worthwhile introduction to the topics it covers.
The book covers a wide range of subjects from the humorous
"Adventures of Wilfred Harrison, Intrepid Programmer to the very
technical "The Truth About Disc Files." "Adventures of Wilfred
Harrison" is the fictional account of a programmer who needs to
recompile 70 programs, but can get no help from his "magical" systems
manager. In his despair, he goes to the local bar where he finds out
about VESOFT's MPEX program, which makes him a super-hero in his own
right.
The book is not all fun and games. "The Truth About Disc Files"
describes file space allocation, tells how to save disc space,
discusses locking techniques, and decodes file system error messages
including workaround suggestions. Included are 37 of the most common
error messages, what they really mean, what causes them, and how to
avoid them. This is of great value in understanding those HP error
messages that only a cryptographer could decipher as they are
explained in the System Intrinsics Manual. In this article the author
proves that technical material can be made more readable by lacing it
with just right amount of humor.
"Burn Before Reading - HP3000 Security and You" discusses the
critical yet frustrating area of keeping sensitive data safe from
prying eyes that would use it to gain an unfair advantage or distort
it to give the owner false data. While the author readily admits that
the user is the weak link in many security systems, he does give a
number of common sense hints that, if followed, will greatly increase
the degree of protection afforded by any security system. The
guidelines for tightening security are discussed in general in the
article and then specifically in the appendix. The conclusion Volokh
draws is that no system can give complete safety, but much computer
crime that succeeds does so because security is neglected until it is
too late.
Other chapters address such topics as "MPE Programming", "Smart
SYSDUMP", the author's opinion about "THe Future of Third-Party
Vendors in the HP3000 Market", how to get rid of the fears and avoid
the problems often encountered in using Privileged Mode programming,
and more.
The "Winning at MPE" chapters include several helpful pointers in
programming, debugging, and using MPE software. These tips and
suggestions were written in response to questions addressed to
INTERACT Magazine.
All in all, "The Collected Works of VESOFT: Thoughts and Discourses
on HP3000 Software" is a reference manual worth much more than it
costs.
FOREWORD to the 4th edition of Eugene Volokh's book
THOUGHTS AND DISCOURSES ON HP3000 SOFTWARE
(the collected works of VESOFT, 1989)
by Robert Green, ROBELLE
(Surrey, BC, V3R 7K1 CANADA)
In the HP3000 world, Eugene Volokh is one of the few people who are
instantly recognized by all. He is so well known that you need only
use his first name: "Have you heard the news? Eugene has written a
new paper on MPE XL disc files... Be sure to come to the meeting,
because Eugene is going to speak... I called Eugene and he suggests
trying...."
My first encounter with the Volokh family was a memorable one. During
one of my 1980 training seminars, Eugene extracted from me the bulk of
what I knew about the externals and internals of the MPE operating
system. To celebrate surviving this ordeal, the Volokhs invited me
home for a traditional Russian feast. This consisted of numerous
delicious courses of food consumed over an entire evening in their
back yard. (Anne Volokh, Eugene's mother, was in the midst of writing
her now-famous cookbook at the time.)
Between each course Vladimir and I tossed down a shot of flavored
vodka from the freezer. And, somewhere between the borscht and the
pirozhki, I expounded my theory on how to succeed in the software
business without capital or connections. "Just find a small,
practical, ignored niche, write a good piece of software, then hit the
road to promote it at users' groups. Write papers that contain tips
on using the computer and you will gain user attention, and
credibility for your software." Well, I didn't say it quite so
concisely after so much vodka.
Eugene must have been taking notes. Soon I was running into him
regularly at meetings, as he presented his latest papers on the HP
3000. I can still remember the stir he caused with "The Truth About
Disc Files" and "Burn Before Reading." Eugene regularly uncovers
useful (and alarming) secrets of the HP3000, and does it in an
eminently readable way.
Although I regret that this Fourth Edition had to drop a few of
Eugene's older papers, I can strongly recommend the new: "The Truth
(Almost) About MPE XL Disc Files" and "MPE XL Programming." Thank
goodness VESOFT did not choose to include Eugene's monster paper
comparing the SPL, Pascal, and C programming languages; that would
have meant dropping the rest of the book!
The story of VESOFT is an exciting and inspiring one: Russian
immigrants start over in Los Angeles, father and son playing
"entrepreneur" as comfortably as others play catch with a baseball
(Eugene does the R&D and Vladimir does the marketing). They develop
MPEX and SECURITY from simple, novel tools into essential complements
of HP's operating system, and build from nothing a successful software
firm with 30 employees and with products installed on 6000 sites
world-wide. If this were a story and not fact, critics would call it
"far-fetched and hopelessly unrealistic." What makes it believable?
Eugene.