[Info-vax] DCL Syntax

[Dave Froble]

On 8/30/2018 11:54 AM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:

> Ayup.  OpenVMS I/O needs a complete overhaul, beyond the now-postponed
> work on VAFS and 64-bit sector addresses and 4 KB sector sizes. There've
> been earlier newsgroup discussions of hardware-related work including
> (hypothetically) adding NVMe I/O and byte-addressable storage, too.  The
> sheer scale of a modern, feature-competitive server operating system is
> not to be underestimated.
>
> Just because any of us were willing to learn a particular API — and many
> of us have spent decades learning OpenVMS and its incantations and its
> glue code, often piecemeal — does not that mean that other folks will be
> nearly as willing to make that same investment of focus and time.  Nor
> does it mean that any of us won't have to learn new approaches.  Change
> and churn is part of IT.   In the tech.  And in the expectations.

I read the above as a bit of a condemnation of VMS, specifically the 
methods in performing tasks.  But, doesn't every OS out there have the 
same concerns?  Not one of them reads your mind and does what you 
desire, not what you asked for.

So at worst, VMS is equal to all others, and since I'm biased, I'd argue 
that the usage of the APIs, VMS utilities, and yes DCL, are in some 
cases superior.  If english is your first language, I'd argue VMS is far 
superior in it's commands.

Just asking, does anyone have the byte addressable storage that has been 
discussed?  Don't know.  Perhaps VMS could lead in this concept?

Just because some already know Linux doesn't mean VMS is less ....

All that written, yes, VMS does have some ugly warts and missing 
capabilities.  But what doesn't?