I usually include JCL under the ~very~ general rubric of "programming language", but even mentally I think that's a stretch. It's more like a macro language, sort of like .bat I guess.
I may as well take this opportunity to include a mild rant. I've often heard the programs you can write for automating some applications referred to as "macros"; I have in mind VBA, for example, and what WordPerfect used to have if WordPerfect is still around. It always seemed to me that VBA qualifies just fine as a programming language, and what I write in VBA is not a "macro", just a program. But then what is a macro? In searching for some sort of distinction that would justify there being two different words, I've concluded to my own satisfaction that a macro is a set of instructions that have no decision-making capability, maybe no if-then syntax and definitely no looping, probably no arithmetic, possibly some rudimentary logic operators like NOT (and may only NOT). The old .bat language would fit this description; so would JCL, especially before they added IF statements. So, if I remember right, are the instruction sets I used to write for QMF. But not VBA; not even TECO. (Anyone remember TECO?) Now I sit back and wait for someone more knowledgeable to correct me either on the capabilities of the languages I named, or on the definition of "macro". --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* Little glances over the breakfast table, rough-housing with the kids, an affectionate argument while getting ready for a party, a brave good-bye upon reporting aboard...courting and the first night are only the invitation and the dinner bell, with the full feast to be savored slowly for decades. -Bob Bridges */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of David Crayford Sent: Thursday, January 6, 2022 20:23 I understand that it's declarative. But it has logic such as IF/THEN. That is no reason why it couldn't have been a scripting language like CL on AS/400. --- On 7/1/22 9:03 am, Andrew Rowley wrote: > I think it is a mistake to think of JCL as a program language. It is a > language that defines what to run and the environment to run it in. So > it is better compared to XML, JSON etc or even a makefile than e.g. > shell scripts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
