Don't forget the short lived name MPPL.
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of CM Poncelet <ponce...@bcs.org.uk> Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 10:06 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: REXX true/false (was Constant Identifiers) Yes. My post-grad thesis was on PL/I - and on its being originally called Fortran VI in 1962, then NPL in '64, then distributed as PL/I in '66 together with OS/360. I wrote PL/I before Clist/CLIST and long before REXX. Confused am I? On 09/09/2020 05:49, Seymour J Metz wrote: > Have you ever heard of PL/I? Much of the syntax of REXX derives from PL/I, > and it has two different string types: CHARACTER and BIT. > > With regard to the built in functions, you are once again confusing the type > of a variable with its contents. Would you argue that +1 in -1 are different > data types because one is a valid input to sqrt and the other is not? > > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of > CM Poncelet <ponce...@bcs.org.uk> > Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 7:53 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: REXX true/false (was Constant Identifiers) > > Mr Bridges, > > 1) The reason the program does not abend is it has a "SIGNAL ON SYNTAX > NAME ERROR3" coded before the "IF TRUE THEN...", which traps the abend > and resumes execution at label ERROR3. > > 2) I disagree with Mr Metz on the grounds that he argues that > "everything in REXX is a character string" - upon which I then > implicitly ask, "What is a non-character string and in what 3GL, 2GL, > 1GL language (but not 0GL, as that would be microcode) do such > non-character strings exist that do not exist in REXX?" > > It has nothing to do with EBCDIC and ASCII. It is that REXX supports all > binary strings - as in the REXX functions C2D, C2X, D2X, X2B, B2X, > BITAND, BITOR, BITXOR etc. and as applied in reading/processing > unformatted 'raw' system dumps. To argue that "everything in REXX is a > character string"is meaningless. It might be appropriate to argue that > "everything in REXX is a binary string", as that would include > "character string" - or even "everything in REXX is a string", because > that would be sufficient in itself and would not constrain all REXX > strings to have to be "character" ones. As I said, REXX supports all > binary strings - not only "character" ones. > > Not sure whether that answers your questions, but I hope it does. > > Cheers, Chris Poncelet (retired sysprog) > > > On 08/09/2020 16:27, Bob Bridges wrote: >> Mr Poncelet, I'm interested in this example. Two questions: >> >> 1) Once TRUE is set to a '1'b in the last two sections, why does the program >> not abend when it encounters "IF TRUE THEN..."? Seems to me REXX should >> complain that TRUE is not 1 or 0. >> >> 2) From your preceding posts I got the impression you were disagreeing with >> Mr Metz, that you believed REXX represented data in other forms that EBCDIC >> character strings. (EBCDIC in TSO REXX, that is; I'm not concerned with >> ASCII platforms here.) But your example seems to support his assertion. >> Did I misunderstand you? What am I missing? >> >> --- >> Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 >> >> /* This is how sin happens. We don't set out to do something very wrong. We >> make up stories that sound good to ourselves about how the thing really >> isn't that wrong, or how it really isn't anybody else's business. / Before >> we lie to others, we lie to ourselves. Do that, and it can be hard to find >> the truth again, even when it is obvious nothing but the truth will do. >> -Maggie Gallagher, 2001-08-27 */ >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On >> Behalf Of CM Poncelet >> Sent: Monday, September 7, 2020 22:33 >> >> You said, "It isn't boolean; everything in REXX is a character string." >> >> I agree that "it's all strings", but not that "everything in REXX is a >> *character* string." >> >> Try the following: >> >> ARG DEBUG >> IF ABBREV(DEBUG,D,1) THEN , >> TRACE I >> >> SIGNAL ON SYNTAX NAME ERROR0 >> TRUE = 1 >> SAY 'TRUE NUMERIC = 'TRUE >> SAY 'DATATYPE TRUE = 'DATATYPE(TRUE) >> IF ¬TRUE THEN SAY 'NOT TRUE NUMERIC' >> IF TRUE THEN SAY 'YES, TRUE NUMERIC' >> >> ERROR0: >> SIGNAL ON SYNTAX NAME ERROR1 >> TRUE = '1' >> SAY 'TRUE CHARACTER = 'TRUE >> SAY 'DATATYPE TRUE = 'DATATYPE(TRUE) >> IF ¬TRUE THEN SAY 'NOT TRUE CHARACTER' >> IF TRUE THEN SAY 'YES, TRUE CHARACTER' >> >> ERROR1: >> SIGNAL ON SYNTAX NAME ERROR2 >> TRUE = '31'X >> SAY 'TRUE HEXADECIMAL = 'TRUE >> SAY 'DATATYPE TRUE = 'DATATYPE(TRUE) >> IF ¬TRUE THEN SAY 'NOT TRUE HEXADECIMAL' >> IF TRUE THEN SAY 'YES, TRUE HEXADECIMAL' >> >> TRUE = '00110001'B >> SAY 'TRUE BINARY HEX = 'TRUE >> SAY 'DATATYPE TRUE = 'DATATYPE(TRUE) >> IF ¬TRUE THEN SAY 'NOT TRUE BINARY HEX' >> IF TRUE THEN SAY 'YES, TRUE BINARY HEX' >> >> TRUE = '00000001'B >> SAY 'TRUE BINARY ONLY = 'TRUE >> SAY 'DATATYPE TRUE = 'DATATYPE(TRUE) >> IF ¬TRUE THEN SAY 'NOT TRUE BINARY ONLY' >> IF TRUE THEN SAY 'YES, TRUE BINARY ONLY' >> >> ERROR2: >> SIGNAL ON SYNTAX NAME ERROR3 >> TRUE = '1'B >> SAY 'TRUE BINARY BIT = 'TRUE >> SAY 'DATATYPE TRUE = 'DATATYPE(TRUE) >> IF ¬TRUE THEN SAY 'NOT TRUE BINARY BIT' >> IF TRUE THEN SAY 'YES, TRUE BINARY BIT' >> >> ERROR3: >> EXIT 0 >> >> >> ... which produces output: >> >> TRUE NUMERIC = 1 >> DATATYPE TRUE = NUM >> YES, TRUE NUMERIC >> TRUE CHARACTER = 1 >> DATATYPE TRUE = NUM >> YES, TRUE CHARACTER >> TRUE HEXADECIMAL = 1 >> DATATYPE TRUE = NUM >> YES, TRUE HEXADECIMAL >> TRUE BINARY HEX = 1 >> DATATYPE TRUE = NUM >> YES, TRUE BINARY HEX >> TRUE BINARY ONLY = ? <-- >> DATATYPE TRUE = CHAR <-- >> TRUE BINARY BIT = ? <-- >> DATATYPE TRUE = CHAR <-- >> >> PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE. >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> . >> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > . > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
