Re: The Design of Design

On Tue, 7 May 2024 06:54:17 -0000 (UTC)
Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> wrote:

Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> schrieb:
 

Like I said, I'm not a fan of JCL, not at all, I just
think it wasn't as bad as the commentary in The Design of Design
makes it out to be. 

 
I think the point he made is subtly different.
 
The UNIX shells have demonstrated that a command interface is,
and should be, a programming language in its own right. 

I wouldn't give that credit to UNIX.
I was not around, but my impression is that by time of creation of UNIX
it was a common understanding. For example, DEC supplied RSX-11 with
DCL at about the same time [as UNIX got Thompson shell) and I never
heard that anybody considered it novel.

JCL has
the rudiments of a programming language with its COND parameter
(which ties my brain into knots every time I think about it) and
the possibility of iteration via submitting new jobs via INTRDR,
plus its macro facility (but with global variables only).
 
Viewed through that lens, I can't think of any (serious) programming
language that is worse than JCL.  Joke languages need not apply.