<grin> OK, you got me. I didn't mean the "prompt". I should have, perhaps, said 
the BASH command line interface and how it works, versus the TSO command line 
interface. In particular, likely due to the difference between the 3270 "block 
mode" interface used by TSO and the "character mode" interface mode used by 
BASH, I can type in the first few characters of a command, the press the TAB 
key. Bash will complete the command, if unique, or show the possible commands 
that start with the typed in characters. With TSO, I must remember the entire 
command. The same applies to file (data set) names. In addition, I can easily 
connect the output of one command to the input of another using "pipes". With 
Bash, I can also use "process subsitition" so that the output from a subcommand 
is used as if it were being read from a file in the outer command. And vice 
versa, I can use the a "file output" from the command as an input file to a 
subcommand. Yes, I do this sort of thing. Example. I wa!
 nt to " post process" the data coming from some program in 3 other programs. 
With TSO, run program 1 and output to a file. Then process that file as input 
to post process 1, then 2, then 3. Lots of I/O going on. In bash: generate | 
tee >(pgm1) >(pgm2) | pgm3 and no temporary files left around.

But, apologies to all, I'm really getting off-topic.

--
John McKown
Systems Engineer IV
IT

Administrative Services Group

HealthMarkets(r)

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Shaw
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 3:57 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: Messages - Was MVC with 2nd operand length
>
> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 2:29 PM, McKown, John
> <[email protected]
> > wrote:
>
> > <...snip...>IMO. I.e. a BASH UNIX prompt beats the crap out
> of line mode
> > TSO.<...snip...>
> >
>
> Jeepers John, I gotta disagree with you on that one. How is
> '#' as a prompt
> any better than 'READY'? As far as messages, there is no way
> IMHO that a
> non-numbered set of UNIX or LINUX messages is superior to ANY
> numbered IBM
> messages for ease of understanding. Google lets you look up those
> unnumbered messages on the Internet and try to find some meaning, but
> without Google non-numbered messages are an abomination. My
> biggest pet
> peeve is the explanation that certain unnumbered messages are 'self
> explanatory'. What a crock...
>
> IBM was very smart to assign messages alphanumeric prefixes
> and to collect
> them in reference manuals for users to read and understand.
>
> Mike Shaw
> MVS/QuickRef Support Group
> Chicago-Soft, Ltd.
>
>

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