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saleh@cse.uta.edu (Medhat Saleh AbdelHady) writes:

>Hi,
> Anybody has an idea about a language called MUMPS ? 
> 
>I appreciate any information or refrences on that ..

MUMPS was/is a software system for medical information
which was used in hospitals for patient information
management.  I hvae no idea if it is still used, but 
I would bet that it is.

You can probably call up the MIS departments at your local
hospital - they should be able to tell you something about it.

--chet--

saleh@cse.uta.edu (Medhat Saleh AbdelHady) writes:


>Hi,
> Anybody has an idea about a language called MUMPS ? 
> 
>I appreciate any information or refrences on that ..

Well, the language standard is ANSI X11.1, constantly being updated. It's
available on many platforms (DOS, *NIX, VMS, etc) as well as in standalone
versions on some hardware.  You can buy a version from IBM or a number of
other hardware vendors, as well as from independent software houses.  I've
seen it required for MIS bids for the Veteran's administration and military
hospital work, is used widely for many other kinds of things.

You could start by contacting the X11 Secretariat at 4321 Hartwick Road,
Suite 510, College Park, Maryland 20740, (301) 779-6555.  They can put you
in touch with the Mumps Users Group (sorry, I don't have that handy).
-- 
Kevin O'Gorman ( kevin@kosman.UUCP, kevin%kosman.uucp@nrc.com )
voice: 805-984-8042 Vital Computer Systems, 5115 Beachcomber, Oxnard, CA  93035
Non-Disclaimer: my boss is me, and he stands behind everything I say.

In <1992Jul25.190427.9278@cs.cornell.edu> murthy@cs.cornell.edu (Chet Murthy) writes:

>saleh@cse.uta.edu (Medhat Saleh AbdelHady) writes:

>>Hi,
>> Anybody has an idea about a language called MUMPS ? 
>> 
>>I appreciate any information or refrences on that ..

>MUMPS was/is a software system for medical information
>which was used in hospitals for patient information
>management.  I hvae no idea if it is still used, but 
>I would bet that it is.

Mumps is indeed a hospital oriented language. I don't speak mumps, but I
know that it is a standardized (I believe ANSI!) language. As far as I
know, it is still being used. Versions for several OS-es are available,
even for MSDOS. possibly you can contact ANSI for more info (if it is
indeed an ANSI standard language).

Hope this helps...

JC
--
___  __  ____________________________________________________________________
   |/  \   Jan Christiaan van Winkel                        jc@sci.kun.nl
   |       Alternative e-mail addresses: jc@oreo.atcmp.nl and jc@atcmp.nl
__/ \__/ ____________________________________________________________________

jc@sci.kun.nl (Jan Christiaan van Winkel (ATC)) writes:
}In <1992Jul25.190427.9278@cs.cornell.edu> murthy@cs.cornell.edu (Chet Murthy) writes:
}>saleh@cse.uta.edu (Medhat Saleh AbdelHady) writes:
}>> Anybody has an idea about a language called MUMPS ? 

}>MUMPS was/is a software system for medical information
}>which was used in hospitals for patient information
}>management....

}Mumps is indeed a hospital oriented language. I don't speak mumps, but I
}know that it is a standardized (I believe ANSI!) language. As far as I
}know, it is still being used. Versions for several OS-es are available,
}even for MSDOS. possibly you can contact ANSI for more info (if it is
}indeed an ANSI standard language).

Actually, folks, the language has NOTHING in it relating to hospitals or
medicine. It just started out in that field, and in the USA has been so
extensively used in that area that some folks have pigeonholed it that way.

The reality is richer than that.  Outside the US, there is no such bias,
and it gets used for a wide variety of tasks.  Even in the US there is
considerable use in general database applications.  In fact, my very first
assignment as an independent contractor related to an application inside
General Motors, relating to manufacture of tires and batteries.  (GM had
just bought EDS and given much of their computer operations over to the
new division. These true-blue types were appalled, I guess, to find this
thing running on DEC VMS in a language they'd never heard of.  I think their
eventual aim was to replace it all with COBOL.)

It's more than a little different from mainstream languages: the only data
type is variable-length string (some of which may represent numbers) organized
in something I guess you'd think of as multi-dimensional arrays, some volatile
(in RAM) and some persistent (on disk).  It's the best marriage of language
and permanent storage I've seen short of the 4GL's.

-- 
Kevin O'Gorman ( kevin@kosman.UUCP, kevin%kosman.uucp@nrc.com )
voice: 805-984-8042 Vital Computer Systems, 5115 Beachcomber, Oxnard, CA  93035
Non-Disclaimer: my boss is me, and he stands behind everything I say.

saleh@cse.uta.edu (Medhat Saleh AbdelHady) writes:

> Anybody has an idea about a language called MUMPS ? 

I've never actually seen MUMPS, but nearly all the programmers where I
work use a language called MIIS (pronounced like "meese", as in "I hate
those meeces to pieces").  Apparently, MUMPS is very similar to MIIS.
So, based on that, I'll tell you what I know about MIIS.  It's nearly
always an interpreted language, which goes by lines (like BASIC).  It's
also very cryptic - every keyword is a one-letter abbreviation.  On
the MIIS system here (which runs a hospital mainframe), every program
has a code limit of 2k, and then 2k for heap/stack combined.  It
seems to be sort of slow, and not much fun to work with.  Fortunately,
I've just been hired here as the "new blood", with actual experience in
legitamate languages.  If you presently program in C, Pascal, or even
Fortran, MIIS (and likely MUMPS) ios a real downgrade.

- Eric