On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 22:10:43 +0000, David W Noon wrote: > >> This thread began with a discussion of the PARM string. I'd like to think >> of JCL >> as source code, not as data. > >You can consider JCL as whatever you wish. The point I was making was >that the PARM string is data, not source code. > The storage object pointed to by R1 is data. The argument of the CALL macro as the programmer writes it is source code. It's subject to symbol substitution, joining of continuation lines, etc.
>> And I definitely think of JCL as sorely deficient >> in string manipulation operations. It was developed a half-century ago, >> subject to severe resource constraints. But I think we're largely in agreement: >Ideally, JCL should have civilized syntax for string manipulation and >for flow control. This would include SELECT/WHEN/OTHERWISE, DO-loops. >WHILE-loops as well as IF/ELSEIF/ELSE. The string manipulation would >include conditional substitution (ternary operator?) as well as >concatenation, extraction and removal of substrings, scanning strings(*) >for patterns and a whole lot more. We're basically talking Python here, >and a bit more besides. > >(*) I think regular expressions would send most mainframe programmers >scatty, but it would be nice to have. -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
