Re: advantages of ultra 25 over blade100?

Rich Teer wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008, Richard B. Gilbert wrote:


VMS is actually a pretty good O/S. The CLI is a lot friendlier than any Unix
shell. print instead of lp, copy instead of cp, rename instead of mv. Yes,
you had to type a couple of extra characters but the result was a hell of a
lot more "people readable" than any Unix shell.


Bah! I hated TCL. DIR /SOME /LONG /OPTION is far too verbose when ls -slo does
the same job. The built in file versioning was neat, though.


Really? I usually use just DIR! If I want all the sordid details it's DIR /FULL. I don't find typing four extra characters to be that great a burden.

If I do need some option on a command, I seldom have to look it up; DCL (not TCL) has an internal consistency that the Unix CLI lacks. In Unix every program parses its own command line and has its own syntax and switches. If two programs in Unix have options with similar functions they almost certainly will not use the same command line switches to enable those functions. In VMS, qualifiers such as /FULL or /ALL have
similar meanings and usage across the board.

Some people would see this as a straight jacket! I see it as not needing to memorize, or look up, quite so much stuff.

You say "rm -i" and I'll say DELETE /CONFIRM but probably abbreviate it to DEL /CONF. I know that ANY command verb is unique at four characters though some can be shorter. I can relax a little because nobody can create a mini disaster by having a file named "-r" in VMS. Etc, etc. Different strokes for different folks. And you'll notice that it's highly improbable that any English speaker will need to ask what DELETE /CONFIRM or SHOW TIME does. I believe that VMS can be made to speak other languages just as most Unixes can though I've never tried it with either VMS or Unix since I'm pretty much monolingual (I can order a beer or make a few polite noises in four languages besides English but that's it).

VMS was designed from the ground up rather than being written as exercises by undergraduates at Berkeley.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Easiest / Cheapest way to get into OpenVMS
    ... programs take arguments passed in the command line. ... and then you also have the issue of (in UNIX): ... such as UNIX utils ported to VMS that retains the ... % util --help ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: HP wins Oracle Itanium case
    ... Address the merits of Unix .. ... The terse command and utility ... If you bought VMS in the United States, or Great Britain, ... the command language was English. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: HP wins Oracle Itanium case
    ... The terse command and utility ... If you bought VMS in the United States, or Great Britain, ... the command language was English. ... Since I don't use Unix I don't know whether "list" might also work. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • RE: How to turn linux into VMS - memory refresher for Dave ...
    ... Subject: Re: How to turn linux into VMS - memory refresher for Dave ... ... There is an important difference between Unix and VMS. ... Unix does not have that need because the command language ... security on both ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: advantages of ultra 25 over blade100?
    ... lot more "people readable" than any Unix shell. ... I don't find typing four extra characters to be that great a ... If I do need some option on a command, I seldom have to look it up; ... has an internal consistency that the Unix CLI lacks. ...
    (comp.unix.solaris)