On Tue, 20 Sep 2022 14:31:55 -0700, Tom Brennan wrote:
> ...
>in assembler. So years ago I wrote some code to somewhat mimic printf,
>and never looked back. Invoked by macros something like this:
>
> #PRINTF SYSPRINT,'THIS IS LINE %D OF %D',VAR1,VAR2
>
We once did something similar but simpler; only text substitutions:
WTOMSG 'This is line &1 of &2..',VAR1,VAR2
In an era when CMS was beginning to use Mixed Case messages, we
thought to get ahead of the trend. But we provided customers a
configuration option to translate messages UPPER CASE.
I argued that only the template, not the substituted symbols should be
translated. I was outvoted, even though I cited a Horrible Example:
In a CLIST I had unwittingly (mischievously?) coded "end". The
resulting message was something like:
IKJ00WTF INVALID COMMAND 'END'
In the interest of convention, it had obliterated the essence of the error.
In extremis, it could have been displayed in hex.
--
gil
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