Edward Jaffe's post was clearly necessary, and it did settle the issue. I nevertheless found the need for it disheartening. There are kinds of IBM-supplied macro definitions for which the availability of both a LIST and an EXECUTE form is predictable, and someone who does not understand this is in a very difficult situation.
There are red threads, many of them all but platform-independent, that run through IBM systems, making them coherent, in the special sense that a knowledge of some of their facilities makes plausible, usually confirmed conjectures about how others work possible. There are dead ends, barred windows, and culs de sac too; but they are uncommon; and they are surprising to someone who has a grasp of these threads. We are no longer very good at conveying information about this exoskeleton to newcomers, probably because we have dumbed everything down, focusing on externalia rather than structure. I am not hopeful, but this problem needs to be addressed if this platform is to have a future. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
