On Nov 6, 2013, at 8:45 AM, David Crayford <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hey, how do I do a loop in this code?
> 
> Forget it kid, they didn't have rewind on punch card readers. 

I think much of the disdain for JCL comes from inaccurate expectations set by 
calling it a “language”. JCL is *not a programming language*. It’s not even a 
minimal scripting language. It’s the punch-card-technology equivalent of 
gestures like double-clicking an app icon or selecting “open” from a file menu 
in a modern GUI.

Yes, it’s far from perfect. The condition code thing is pretty goofy (although 
you’ve been able to use IF constructs instead for over two decades) and a lot 
of keywords and values are pretty obscure. But for what it was actually 
designed to do, it works pretty well. 

-- 
Curtis Pew ([email protected])
ITS Systems Core
The University of Texas at Austin

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