On 02/04/2016 12:52 PM, Ed Gould wrote: > http://destinationz.org/Mainframe-Solution/Trends/What-the-Heck-Is-JCL-and-Why-Does-It-Look-So-Funny > > > > What the Heck Is JCL and Why Does It Look So Funny? > It’s important to give job control language its due respect helping > others > - See more at: > http://destinationz.org/Mainframe-Solution/Trends/What-the-Heck-Is-JCL-and-Why-Does-It-Look-So-Funny#sthash.TRwMFSIg.dpuf > The article starts with a Fred Brooks quote about JCL being the "worst computer programming language ever devised", which if you class it as such is probably true. Job Control Language is indeed an artificial language, but I wouldn't dignify it by calling it a programming language. Syntax is only part of the problem: even after enhancements over the years, there is still no run-time looping capability, very marginal conditional logic support, and painfully limited variable support. While it's true that JCL can execute any arbitrary program, the interfaces between the JCL and those programs is also very limited, greatly restricting what an invoked program can do to enhance the capability of the JCL language itself.
Except for implementation limits on storage and array sizes, finite external file space, and practical limitations on execution time, programming languages like FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/I, Algol, Ada, etc. could all be used to program a Universal Turing Machine and in theory solve any computable problem, so you could envision these languages as all having a some degree of functional equivalency. Without loops, decent conditional logic, arrays, or reasonable variable types JCL is unable to play in that league. There is a good reason why JCL is not normally regarded as a "Programming" language. -- Joel C. Ewing, Bentonville, AR jcew...@acm.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
