[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Richard B. Gilbert]

Bob Koehler wrote:
> In article <h9gcni$qid$1 at naig.caltech.edu>, glen herrmannsfeldt <gah at ugcs.caltech.edu> writes:
>> IanMiller <gxys at uk2.net> wrote:
>> (snip)
>>  
>>> SOS, Son of Stopgap - I used that on TOPS10 before I discovered
>>> teco :-)
>> I used SOS on TOPS10 even after I knew about TECO.
> 
>    TOPS-10 was the first system I ever knew.  We were taught how to
>    logon, use TECO, execute programs from source, and print files.
>    Then we were told to go find a FORTRAN book and write a simple 
>    program.
> 
>    This was a two week assignment in sophmore physics lab, the high
>    energy group owned the PDP-10.  We were told that you did high 
>    energy physics by collecting data on a PDP-11 and analyzing it
>    on a PDP-10.
> 
>    And I knew we were lucky not to have to use the campus mainframe
>    in the basement of the math building.  I once tried to help a friend
>    with a "FORTRAN problem", but it turned out she was having a JCL
>    problem.  I didn't have to learn JCL until I got my first job.
> 
>    But the PDP-11 was just a data collection device that I didn't
>    really have to learn until I'd had a VAX for two years.
> 

JCL wasn't too bad.  You used canned procedures for most things and 
mostly you wrote "DD" statements to tell the system where to get your 
inputs and where to put your outputs.  It has been at least fifteen 
years since I last wrote any JCL and twenty-five years since I used it 
regularly.