On Wed, 1 Feb 2023 13:52:56 +0000, Seymour J Metz wrote: >Or IBM knows something that you do not. > IBM guarantees that with their indolent documentation practice. An example: <https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.5.0?topic=field-relational-expression-keywords>: The following keywords are the only keywords supported by IBM and recommended for use in relational-expressions. Any other keywords, even if accepted by the system, are not intended or supported keywords.
It's been that way for too long to be "reserved for future function," as an IBM representative has suggested here. Rather, it reminds me of a colleague who lamented the announcement of the s/360 with its Operation Exception: "That means that I can't invent my own opcodes!" as was customary among IBM 70* hackers who delighted in black-box reverse-engineering the logic. "Operation Exception" was a good invention. JCL's failure to report syntax errors on "not intended or supported keywords" is bad design. -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
