[Info-vax] %DCL-W-IVDTIME and the DCL WAIT command

[George Cornelius]

In article <d9b01006-fdbf-46cd-b497-8ab10712dbb6 at k28g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>, Steven Schweda <sms.antinode at gmail.com> writes:
>    HELP WAIT says "delta-time".  It does not say
> "special-sub-normal-delta-time".  You need to burrow down to
> "HELP WAIT Parameter" before you discover that this
> "delta-time" is more limited than an ordinary "delta-time".
> ("Note that the days field, usually included in the delta
> time format, must be omitted here.")
> 
>    A casual reading by a victim who knows what a "delta-time"
> is might easily leave him confused.

Which is exactly why I fought this for three days before finally
taking the manual down from the shelf [it was only a little over
arm's length away, but I resisted anyway].

The text following the error message was a clue, but it did
not register.  Apparently DCL has a buffer preloaded with a 0
and a couple of spaces, and appends the argument from the
command line to this before calling some standard time
conversion routine.  What is surprising is that the conversion
routine appears to ignore all spaces in what it considers to be
the hour, minute, and second fields.
 
>    Why this limit exists is another question.

Because back in the initial days of the 780, when 256K memory sizes
were common, it was considered a crime to sit in "memory" when you
could exit and requeue yourself for later?

George