Shmuel wrote: <begin extract> The dope vectors contained addresses; a descriptor does not. The equivalent of a dope vector is a locator/descriptor, not a descriptor in isolation. </end extract>
and this is the classical usage. It also retains a useful distinction between, among others, LE discriptors, which---like PL/I based structures and HLASM DSECTs---do not contain an address but must be pointed at one, and PL/I dope vectors and locator/descriptors, which do. Unfortunately, current [sloppy] usage has blurred this distinction: everything is now called a descriptor on several PL/I websites and even, from time to time, in IBM publications. The bowdlerizing impulse that led to the replacement of 'dope vector' by 'locator/descriptor' has been accompanied by increasing impatience with important distinctions that hoi polloi never mastered. 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
