On 24 October 2017 at 13:02, Paul Gilmartin < [email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Oct 2017 14:27:13 +0800, David Crayford wrote: > > >NetRexx can't be used in TSO/ISPF environments which is why it's not > popular on z/OS. > > > What's the obstacle (not to popularity, but to TSO toleration)? > One can certainly write a Rexx interpreter (or compiler, for that matter), and run it under TSO and/or ISPF; in that sense it *tolerates* those environments. But for reasons known only to IBM, the interfaces needed to implement *integration* with the TSO/E and ISPF environments are undocumented. It used to be possible to write one's own Terminal Monitor Program (TMP), and there was even a book describing how to do so. With TSO/E that book was dropped, and while one can guess at much of what needs to be done, there are OCO control blocks and interfaces that inhibit implementing interfaces like Address TSO and Address ISPF. Of course the same thing inhibits implementing Lua or Python or <your favourite interpreted language> in the TSO/E environment as much as it does competitive Rexxs. Perhaps IBM thinks that someone is going to steal this radical technology and use it on Linux or something, and so it must remain a closely held secret... Tony H. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
