Here I find myself in complete agreement with Paul Gilmartin. I write a lot of AMODE(64) code, and I have found it necessary to do far too much using SETAFs and SETCFs, which permit me to use assembly-language even PL/I routines to do address arithmetic and the like that the assembler should do for me [and does indeed do for me in AMODE(31) code].
We can all appreciate that the resources available for HLASM extensions are limited and that such extensions must be prioritized. How not? That conceded, requests for justifications for obviously needed facilities are otiose. If I must I can produce arguments, complete with the necessary rhetorical flourishes, for the thesis that the earth is an oblate spheroid; but I try to avoid the sorts of arguments with flat-earthers that require them. The phrase 'real world practical problems' is thus unhelpful. It is also unworthy. It puts Jonathan Scott in the company of the crackpot realists. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
