[Info-vax] : Re: Default protection question

[George Cook]

In article <8kg424Fp41U9 at mid.individual.net>, Bob Eager <rde42 at spamcop.net> writes:
> On Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:19:12 -0600, Bob Koehler wrote:
> 
>> In article <ibms8o$c7q$1 at online.de>, helbig at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de
>> (Phillip Helbig---undress to reply) writes:
>>> In article <ib9agl$bkp$1 at speranza.aioe.org>, Wilm Boerhout
>>> <wboerhout-deletethis at gmail.com> writes:
>>> 
>>>> Every [nnnmmm] numeric directory, including [000000] can be written in
>>>> DCL commands as [nnn,mmm] or even <nnn,mmm>. It is indeed a legacy
>>>> from the RSX-11 compatibility days. So DUA0:[0,0] , DKA100<10,100> and
>>>> DKA200:[1,4] are all valid directory (well, "account") notations.
>>> 
>>> But can't EVERY directory (not just numerical ones) be written with <>
>>> instead of []?
>> 
>>    <> insteead of [] is inherited from TOPS, not RSX.  Lots of little
>>    things like that were added to VMS in the DECnet Phase IV days so
>>    they were no longer foreign file names that had to be quoted. .
>>    instead of ; was another of them.
> 
> Yes, I remember that on TOPS. But then I went back to using [] when I 
> started using DOS/BATCH on the PDP-11. Anyone else remember that?

My first "real" programming assignment was when the boss handed
me a DOS/BATCH V10 source tape and handbook, said take them cross
town to a PDP-11/40 with RK05 disk drives (to which I had limited
access since it was a production machine even on weekends), and
make DOS/BATCH work on a PDP-11/44 with unsupported RK07 drives to
which I had no access.  I didn't even have a printer (just a dumb
CRT), so listings had to be put on tape and sent cross town where
the boss printed them.  When we (the boss always went since we were
getting access via his personnal relationships) traveled (sometimes
six hours round trip) to a test 11/44, we didn't even have our own
RK07 pack.  On one long nightmare of a Saturday night, the boss (who
normally took care of backing up/restoring the borrowed production
pack) was unable to get the backup tape to restore.  At least I
wasn't the one who had to wake the center's director up in the
middle of the night with the bad news.  I still have the source
tape and handbook.


George Cook
WVNET