[Info-vax] DCL's flaws (both scripting and UI)

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2015-01-21 15:37:47 +0000, JF Mezei said:

> 1- Is it possible to get DCL to support modern quoting that causes less 
> irritation to Hoff ?

If you believe that quoting is the extent of my issues with DCL, kindly 
please re-read some of my earlier messages.

> 2- DCL versions
> 
> How difficult would it be to do something like Unix and have the first
> line of a DCL command procedure define the DCL flavour.

Implementing a shebang-like 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebang_(Unix)> prefix in the file?   
Certainly technically feasible, but it'd mean stuffing both CLIs into 
P1 space or figuring out how to remap the CLIs on the fly, and logic to 
figure out which grammar was in current use within a process.    Much 
easier to have separate CLI images and separate processes.   Certainly 
if the shebang approach was generalized beyond DCL grammar selection, 
it'd allow other languages to be invoked.   But then the shebang is not 
how VMS traditionally differentiates this stuff, as VMS depends on 
another of my favorite morasses, the file type.  It'd be more typical 
of VMS to use a different file type, whether .DCL64 or maybe 
resurrecting the old CMD extension from eons past.  Or if John Reagan 
does get around to working on the DCL replacement, he could name it 
.JCL.   Changing the new file type away would avoid some of the 
confusion that arises in network file transfers secondary to the use of 
.COM for Windows executable files.

Can't say I see any of this happening anytime soon, though.


-- 
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC