[HECnet] Humour value alternative to DCL - a port OS/390 ISPF to VMS :)

[Sampsa Laine]

This is a little bit unfair for the blue guys :)

ISPF is far more than a set of screens to invoke TSO commands. The panels (that's how ISPF screens are called) are just a part of the whole thing. ISPF integrates with TSO, so we are talking about:

- The TSO command language (CLIST language) and also the REXX language.
- The panel facility.
- The skeleton facility.

It is quite easy to "simulate" the ISPF panels (you just need DCL to do it, I did it when I worked with DEC machines in a mostly IBM-centric company), but that would be just the user interface. The APIs provided with ISPF are way beyond that...


I was planning on developing a simple format for defining the panels, mapping the options to DCL and any params / switches they need. I am aware that ISPF can be used for way more than the basic IDE / sysop functions that it comes with by default, don't some ISVs actually build their software using ISPF panels as the interface?

I just thought a IBM mainframe lookalike interface to VMS would be amusing if nothing else.

Sampsa