My first language was a subset of PL/1, and I still think it's a great language, but there doesn't seem to be much call for it at the clients I serve. I didn't know PL/1 programmers indent the END with the paragraph; I thought it was just my preference, but maybe I learned it earlier than I thought.
I don't follow what you're saying about ISPF. If I indent the END, then I can use eXclude and Show to reveal the start of code blocks in certain column numbers without the END obtruding, which (it seems to me) is just what I would want. Or are you thinking that you can make sure there's an END for each one? I guess that would work. Usually I test a program as I'm developing it, running it in its unfinished state every so often to be sure that the parts I've written so far are working correctly before going on to the next part. So, for example, I read the input data and table it, and generate a SAY statement to be sure it's parsing the input correctly. Then I delete that SAY and write the next part, with SAY statements to convince me it work, and so on. But occasionally I complete a large amount of code, only to have REXX tell me that I'm missing and END somewhere. It's usually not hard to go through the program and check each block of code, but yeah, a couple of times a year the problem hides from me for 15 minutes or so. I've written stuff in ISPPF, but never long enough for this to be a problem. If it needs to be that complex I write an external REXX. --- Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 /* If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. -Charles Darwin, _On the Origin of Species_, first edition p189. */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of David Spiegel Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2022 10:47 When I programmed PL/I 40+ year ago, lining up the END; with the body was de rigeur. Initially, of course, that was using cards. When ISPF (or XEDIT) came along, lining up the END: with DO/SELECT etc. made a lot more sense since excluded lines could be shown by column number containing DO/END/SELECT etc. (This made debugging easier.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
