Adding a dummy first line because LISTSERV rejected this post because it thought it was a command, not a message ...
//SYSIN DD DATA,DLM=xx solves the /* in column 1 problem. PL/I supports specifiable margins, so PL/I source can start in column 1. My earliest S/360 memories are from 1968, and both JCL and PL/I were already around, so no help there. My introduction to S/360 came from PL/I aficionados, and I remember hearing that the column 2 margin avoided this conflict, but I don't recall any "which came first" or "my camp versus your camp" hostility. I recall that the /* is a hardware feature of some card readers. I believe a 2540 card reader generated some special status (unit exception?) when it read a card with /* in the first two columns, so one might ask "which came first: JCL or the hardware feature?" I don't know the 14xx series at all. Did it use /* as control card end-of-file? Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Phil Smith III Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 3:09 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: PL/I vs. JCL A friend writes: In a conversation elsewhere I mentioned the oops between JCL using /* as end of dataset and PL/I using /* */ for comment brackets - meaning that PL/I had to start in column 2 to prevent a comment from being interpreted as JCL. Oopsie. Does anyone remember which came first? There was some rumor that I no longer remember that one group didn't like the other group so some of this done on purpose. I've never heard this, which proves nothing much, but leads me to ask: anyone else here ever heard it? I'd've guessed JCL came first, since PL/I was still in development as of December 1964 per the Wikipedia page. But this is the right place to get some answers (or at least opinions)! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
