A stack of file pointers doesn't work when you're reading the copy files from punched cards. 😉
-----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2022 9:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Does HLASM use NOTE and POINT on UNIX files? On Mar 31, 2022, at 08:34:06, Bernd Oppolzer wrote: > > but, in general, when processing COPY instructions (or INCLUDE files, in > other languages), > you don't need such file positioning functions, because you can easily keep > files open > while processing other files which contain the COPY books or include files > and then > return to the original file. You only need to manage a table (or stack) of > file pointers and > return to the previous file pointer in the stack, when you reach the end of > the file > of your "current" include file. > I did exactly that in a Pascal compiler, to the bewilderment of co-workers familiar with the Assembler technique. I believe the Assembler design was motivated by antiquated storage constraints or performance impact of numerous OPENs. -- gil
