Date:         Sun, 21 Nov 2004 10:09:29 +0100
Reply-To:     SAS-L List <sas-l@listserv.uga.edu>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Robert Bardos <bardos2@ANSYS.CH>
Subject:      Re: Mainframe and caps (was: A question about macro quote)
In-Reply-To:  <748343794E05734F9D9E9BBF2CA6D2140DCB17@LYNDON.tea.state.tx.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Toby,

being a mainframe bigot let me emphasize for all the non-mainframers out
there that there is no compelling reason to code SAS with caps on on
mainframes. (I'm pretty well aware that you know this). People usually do so
when running SAS in batch where the code is surrounded by JCL (Job Control
Language) which has to be all uppercase (apart from comments, parameter
strings that are being passed to the executing program plus some of the Unix
System Services related things and maybe a few more that escape me right
now). But it is no must. I personally call it laziness (practice driven
laziness might be more appropriate).

To get the best of both worlds I usually set one of the PF keys in the ISPF
editor to :uc  which when pressed capitalizes the line at the cursor
position. That is, I edit with caps off and whenever I enter or modify a JCL
line I press PFnn instead of or right after the enter key (or - admittedly -
right after getting a JCL error 8^) ).

So a clarification only, not meant to criticize you. And I do know that
there are more aspects to this (like nocaps code being
modified/"edit_copied" by people who "ISPF edit" with caps on thereby
uppercasing modified/copied lines; a nuisance which AFAIK can only be
prevented by forcing people to use an initial edit macro that sets caps off;
well, as I think about it, this would never be accepted since there is still
a plenty of utilities/tools around that require uppercase input.)

Long live the mainframe!

Robert Bardos
Ansys AG, Switzerland


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Dunn, Toby
Gesendet: Sonntag, 21. November 2004 02:31
An: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Betreff: FW: A question about macro quote

<snip>

(sorry for the caps had to run it on the mainframe)

</snip>