Tom and I grappled with a menagerie of system exits that had been adopted and adapted by SCE during the 70s (?) and 80s. Exit code had been tweaked to some extent to fit installation standards, but likewise standards had been shaped to some extent by the way exits worked. Today when I get questions about why we do things a certain way, I sometimes answer honestly 'just cuz'. This is not a dodge. At core is the issue of what it's worth to do things a different way.
My current colleagues brought with them the delightful term 'scream test'. When you believe you have rendered something unnecessary--whether exit code or a whole product--you shut it off and listen for complaints. The problem with this strategy is that a deficiency may not show up right away. Worst of all, once revealed, the deficiency may prove expensive to recover from. This is another flavor of the question "what's it worth to do things a different way?" My recommendation. If continuing to do things the same way exposes an insurmountable obstacle--like needing to modify an exit whose source code has dropped off the earth--then resolve to seek an extraordinary remedy. Otherwise never mind. . . J.O.Skip Robinson Southern California Edison Company Electric Dragon Team Paddler SHARE MVS Program Co-Manager 323-715-0595 Mobile 626-543-6132 Office ⇐=== NEW [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Brennan Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 10:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: (External):Re: Exit Calls or Using On 1/4/2019 4:35 AM, Peter Relson wrote: > Whether or not your exit routine is doing anything useful can only be > determined by examining the routine and understanding the exit. That means someone has to find the source code, make sure it's the actual version running, and then be able to understand it well enough to make a decision about whether the processing is needed or not. I've seen sites where even step 1 is a problem. So maybe a more realistic approach might be: Turn off the exit, wait to see if the phone rings, and be ready to put it back. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
