In a recent note, Gerhard Postpischil said:
> Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 01:27:46 -0400
>
> I consulted at a government agency where I found code that's very clear
> and easy to understand:
> TM flag,1
> BZ label
> NI flag,255-1
> label .....
>
Well, the specification was probably something like: "If 'flag'
isn't zero, then set it to zero." What's a poor obedient coder
to do?
Likewise, in TSO-REXX, we were recently discussing a construct
similar to:
P: procedure
trace R
... lotsa stuff ...
trace N
return
A few of us pointed out that Rexx automatically restores
environmental settings such as "trace" on return from a
procedure. The OP's rationale was, "I don't like to count
on things like that."
And a very capable regular contributor to this list once posted:
call SYSCALLS( 'ON' )
... stuff ...
call SYSCALLS( 'OFF' )
I asked, "What's the point of 'SYSCALLS( OFF )'?" The OP said,
"I always reset anything I may have changed." But Bill Schoen
counsels against "SYSCALLS( 'OFF' )", saying it's frequently
harmful; a misdesign. And there's no way to query the setting
of SYSCALLS on entry, so it may well have been 'ON' to begin
with. The OP was unmoved by either argument.
And, in this list, I was recently admonished for writing a
superflous pair of parentheses in a JCL IF statement. I'm
still trying to decide whether to follow up with a humble and
grateful apology, or a defiant defense.
-- gil
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