On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 14:40:18 -0500, Ted MacNEIL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Subject: Re: Using symbolic in JCL
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> >(*) I mean: submitted,converted,executed on
> the same system. Most of the
> > installations are monoplexes, probably most
> of them do not use NJE for
> >vast majority of jobs.
>
> I have never worked in a single system shop,
> either before or after SYSPLEX, so I have
> always been in an environment where the job
> could be handled in three different places.
>
> BTW, the results are not indeterminate.
> If you use a symbol in the JCL, you will
> always get a JCL error.
>
Hmmm. One common intended use of system symbols is in data set names.
I know data set names must be known, for ENQ purposes, when the job
begins execution. Must they be known any earlier; e.g. on the converting
system? If the submitting system and the converting system make no
use of the actual data set name, then the suggestion of qualifiers
should be perfectly workable:
&SUB_SYSNAME
&CONV_SYSNAME
&EXEC_SYSNAME
For many users and many system symbols, whichever is feasible would
be acceptable. I don't particularly care when I wish to use a date
as a data set name qualifier, which of the three dates I get. (But
with our system configuration and batch workload, they rarely differ
by more than 5 seconds -- I can rarely type "SUB" then SWAP to SDSF
and not see the job executing. What's an "input queue"?) and we
don't share spool -- for us, all three systems are the same. In short,
I'd joyfully take any of the three choices if IBM elected to provide
one.
However, I suspect a strong motivation for IBM is to keep the support
center phones on the hook and the calls short. The bitterest customer
will be the one who has been running a single system and expands to
multiple systems. Suddenly that customer finds his deterministic
result has become indeterminate. He's upset!
But, I repeat, I'd still like to have any one of the three. IBM's
choice. When are the symbol values determined for a started task?
-- gil
--
StorageTek
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