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

[Sampsa Laine]

Not sure how many of you guys know about the "simple" user interface that IBM developed for using TSO ("time sharing option", the interactive bit of MVS / OS/390 / z/OS) and it's called ISPF.

It's basically a set of screens that invoke TSO commands on behalf of the user (mostly to compile / link programs, which is insanely complex on IBM systems for some reason).

Anyway, I thought it might be amusing to write an ISPF clone and deploy it on CHIMPY - because I'm lazy I'm going to do it in Python (so it prob will never run on a VAX), but I'll let you guys know when it's finished.

Basically I think I'll just define a "Panel Language" that is used to describe the menu and what DCL command to run if that option is chosen. If I feel particularly ambitious I might include 3270-like cursor key navigation of the panels as well :)

NOTE: This is not a serious endeavour, more of a "wouldn't it be funny if this looked like a mainframe" type idea..