On 2/3/23 21:30, René Jansen wrote:
Not that anyone would do that, of course, being so much easier with ISPF and
Rexx and their shared variable pool. I have built dialogs in COBOL and PL/1 but
nothing beats Rexx for that, having not to VDEFINE everything first.
That's subjective. I find it much easier to write code in Lua. A programming
language that supports OO, meta-programming, functional programming and
co-routines with just 20 reserved words is a thing of absolute beauty and a
testament to the designers. REXX is a niche language that's only used to any
great extend on mainframes and it's popularity is constantly eroding. The
mainframe needs to keep pace with the industry.
A very true word. And in trying to cast it in the image of Unix, it will always
be some steps behind, and be an eternal disappointment to next gen people. Look
at every github project or distribution repo, s390x is always a hanger-on. It
is a platform of unique strength. What is the point of WebSphere when you have
CICS? What is the point of then still running WebSphere on Java version 8? Why
not build the ultimate cloud machine with all the middleware API’s but
implemented in the best tools there are? Why doesn’t the next ChatGPT run on a
Z17 with a Prolog/Asm combo using these enormous address spaces with all these
new instructions on a small number of CPU’s instead of letting those
datacenters use up all our natural resources with dinky but power hungry - even
when idling - X86 machines. The problem with all the Z propaganda (still need
to change that name, IBM) is that all these things about Green and Cloud were
true, but nobody invested in the software for it, not like the /360 investment
of the early sixties.
The problem now is pretending that it is leading edge, by running late and
behind in rebuilding Unix tools from decades ago. The new mainframe should not
be the old Unix, we have the new Unix in Linux and on the Mac already, and WSL
for Windows people. IBM does need to invest in software for the mainframe, not
to divest from it. And it should stop badmouthing its own past.
IBM are investing heavily in porting tools and have some top notch
talent working on it https://github.com/ZOSOpenTools. Why not ask them
to port ooRexx? I don't think they will as there just isn't a market for it.
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