From: garylscott@sbcglobal.net   
      
   On 1/27/2026 11:43 AM, Thomas Koenig wrote:   
   > LC's No-Spam Newsreading account  schrieb:   
   >> On Sun, 25 Jan 2026, Thomas Koenig wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>> One had OS-dependent scripting at least as far as early 1980s.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> On HP RTE-6 VM there were "transfer files" with some two-letter control   
   >>>> statements. On IBM VM/CMS one could write scripts in EXEC, then EXEC2,   
   >>>> and later REXX (REXX is still kicking and alive). On VAX VMS "command   
   >>>> files" where written in DCL (Digital Command Language).   
   >>>   
   >>> JCL is also a script language, of sorts   
   >>   
   >> I had some exposure to JCL too on IBM mainframes (and to the equivalent   
   >> "languag" on Univac 1100 ones), but I did not consider them script   
   >> languages (no interactivity, no obvious way of "passing parameters",   
   >> did it have branching ?),   
   >   
   > You can write procedures in JCL, with parameters.  You can also   
   > skip steps based on the condition code of previous return codes,   
   > but the logic is horribly backwards.  And you can submit new   
   > jobs from JCL to an "internal reader" via SYSOUT=(A,INTRDR), so   
   > looping is possible, in principle.   
   >   
   > Fred Brooks, who should know, called it "the worst computer   
   > programming language ever devised by anybody, anywhere", adding   
   > that as the /360 project lead, he was responsible, but that there   
   > was more than enough blame to go around.   
   > snip   
      
   That would be my opinion of JCL.  Hated it, used it only where   
   absolutely necessary.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)