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

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <m9oing$s81$1 at dont-email.me>,
	Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> writes:
> 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.
 
Just my $.02 worth.

Seems to me based on all the comments I have seen on this subject that
the best solution would be to leave DCL alone as there are apparently
piles and piles of existing DCL scripts that one should not risk breaking.
Thus, the true solution would be to create a new scripting systems
totally separate from DCL.

bill
 

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>