D'oh! I never thought about his background being in UNIX... Never mind...
I tried APL once, back in 77. I thought it was the perfect programming language. One could write an entire program on/in one line of code. And, the part I liked best, no one could understand it and it "looked" like a computer programming language. I've since grown up. <g> On Wed May 23 12:00 , 'McKown, John' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sent: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List >> [EMAIL PROTECTED]','','','')">[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary Green >> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 11:48 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Non-Standard Mainframe Language? >> >> >> Am I missing something here? >> >> The below is an excerpt from a blog where the writer lamented >> that the ubiquitous language "C" was available >> everywhere, for free, except for the mainframe. And then >> rejoices that it finally came to the mainframe... >> >> Okay, that part I get. The part that interests me is since >> "C" was not available, 'mainframe users could have been in a >> position of having to write code in a "non-standard" >> language...' A language like what...? Cobol per chance... >> Maybe assembler? >> >> As I started this, am I missing something here? >> >> Inquiring minds want to know. >> > >Personal opinion time. In the environment which the author works >(apparently UNIX), C is the defacto "standard language". We, as >mainframers, could lament that there is no free COBOL on UNIX or >Windows. We would have a strong argument that COBOL is the true standard >language for COMMERCIAL programming. But the author, coming from his >UNIX environment, assumes that z/OS should likewise consider C to be the >defacto standard language. Now that z/OS has an integrated UNIX >environment, he may have some good points. In order to use much of the >freely available UNIX source code, a C compiler is totally required. But >I think he is being parochial or chauvinistic to basically say "C is the >standard language in my environment, so it should be the standard >language in every other environment." > >Now, you want a non standard language? Try writing in APL2! > >-- >John McKown >Senior Systems Programmer >HealthMarkets >Keeping the Promise of Affordable Coverage >Administrative Services Group >Information Technology > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
