Did the ANSI REXX standard drop support of the  /=  (forward slash,
equal) comparison
operator (among others)?   I know all the IBM REXXes, R4, and PC/REXX
support them
(and others).   IBM is still coding many (it seems) system REXX code
with  the
/=   (not equal) comparison operator.

The option was added many years ago when some keyboards didn't have a
backslash
character, and other people didn't want to use the  not sign  for
portability concerns.

It would seem a simple matter to include it in the valid comparison
operators.  That's
one thing I like about IBM (REXX) interpreters, once a feature is in
the interpreter, it
will be supported forever.   Witness the   x=     statement, the UPPER
statement,
/=  /==  /<  />  />=  /<=  comparison operators, the symbols @,
centsign (as variable
symbols), the bifs FIND, INDEX, JUSTIFY and a few other variants.
You never have to
specify options to allow (get) them to work properly (as if they
should be treated as an
exception).  _________________________________________ Gerard
Schildberger

On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:14:48 -0800 (PST), GerardS <gerard46@rrt.net>
wrote:

>IBM (REXX) interpreters

The oldest REXX that I have access to is IBM Object REXX 2.1.3 and
that does not support /=

I suspect this is tied up with REXX's origin under VM/CMS where most
users would not have had a "\" key on their keyboards. 

I can't be sure of this though; I don't have clear memories of the
3277 keyboard layout. I do know that I disliked the "\" character from
the moment I found it on a keyboard; it seemed to be an "invented"
character, whose only purpose was as a directory delimiter, and
something that you'd never find in text.

-- 
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

in 53095 20101212 080121 Swifty <steve.j.swift@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:14:48 -0800 (PST), GerardS <gerard46@rrt.net>
>wrote:
>
>>IBM (REXX) interpreters
>
>The oldest REXX that I have access to is IBM Object REXX 2.1.3 and
>that does not support /=
>
>I suspect this is tied up with REXX's origin under VM/CMS where most
>users would not have had a "\" key on their keyboards.
>
>I can't be sure of this though; I don't have clear memories of the
>3277 keyboard layout. I do know that I disliked the "\" character from
>the moment I found it on a keyboard; it seemed to be an "invented"
>character, whose only purpose was as a directory delimiter, and
>something that you'd never find in text.

I've always used "<>" for "not equal". 

In <mrv8g6p2ovevapi8hsihe4m41up1lsspeu@4ax.com>, on 12/12/2010
   at 08:01 AM, Swifty <steve.j.swift@gmail.com> said:

>The oldest REXX that I have access to is IBM Object REXX 2.1.3 and
>that does not support /=

 say 1 \= 2
 1
   ................................................ REXXTRY.CMD on
OS/2
 say 1 /= 2
   Oooops ! ... try again.     Invalid expression
                               Incorrect expression detected at "="
   rc = 35 ........................................ REXXTRY.CMD on
OS/2

>I suspect this is tied up with REXX's origin under VM/CMS where most
>users would not have had a "\" key on their keyboards. 

When REXX was added to VM/SP, most users had keyboards with a �
(Logical Not and without a \ (Reverse Solidus). However, a more likely
explanation is that you typed / rather than \.

-- 
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT  <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action.  I reserve the
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On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 08:43:58 GMT, Bob Martin <bob.martin@excite.com>
wrote:

>I've always used "<>" for "not equal". 

I switched to "<>" when I migrated to OS/2 for most of my REXX use,
and lost the use of the "�" key (I'm even not sure if that character
will survive here, it is the "not" symbol, like a hyphen with a short
downward vertical bar on the right-hand end).

I still resort to the "\" for things like "\==" in REXX code, and
where the "<>" characters would upset DOS command processing.

Is there any alternative to "\==" ?

-- 
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

In <7b3ag6hfi8qi3og4jsohqo12d83p6afqp7@4ax.com>, on 12/12/2010
   at 06:04 PM, Swifty <steve.j.swift@gmail.com> said:

>and lost the use of the "�" key (I'm even not sure if that character
>will survive here,

Not is available in ISO-8859-1 (which is what you are using) and in
ISO-8859-15; it's not available in ASCII. Given the mopvement towards
UTF-8, I would expect Not to be available on most machines before
long, but I don't Know whether OOREXX supports it.

-- 
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT  <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action.  I reserve the
right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail.  Reply to
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On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:22:00 -0500, Shmuel wrote:
>When REXX was added to VM/SP, most users had keyboards with a �
>(Logical Not and without a \ (Reverse Solidus). 

For at least a couple years I had a 3277, which has no \ on the keyboard
or the display.  Even after that, there's always been the confusion of
two different code points with identical-looking characters in the APL
character set (E0, B7).

�R  "MY FLIEGENDE HOLL�NDER WON'T STOP BLEEEEEEING!" --Poot
<http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/magictop.html>     Rootbeer

On Dec 12, 12:04=A0pm, Swifty <steve.j.sw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Dec 2010 08:43:58 GMT, Bob Martin <bob.mar...@excite.com>
> wrote:
>
> >I've always used "<>" for "not equal".
>
> I switched to "<>" when I migrated to OS/2 for most of my REXX use,
> and lost the use of the " " key (I'm even not sure if that character
> will survive here, it is the "not" symbol, like a hyphen with a short
> downward vertical bar on the right-hand end).
>
> I still resort to the "\" for things like "\=3D=3D" in REXX code, and
> where the "<>" characters would upset DOS command processing.
>
> Is there any alternative to "\=3D=3D" ?
>
> --
> Steve Swifthttp://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.htmlhttp://www.ringers.org.uk

There are three:

                =AC=3D=3D
                /=3D=3D
                \=3D=3D

All of which are supported on the IBM mainframe REXX interpreters
(VM/CMS and MVS/TSO), as well as  R4,  and  PC/REXX,  but not
Regina.
It would be interesting if people who have access to other REXXes
whould
chime in.

Also, the   ><   comparison operator is supported,  and looks even
uglier,
but that's just me.

If Regina wants to be accepted on lots of platforms, then it should
take
a page out of the compatability notebook.  I can't speak fondly of
REXXes
that refuse to interpret REXX programs that've been running OK for
decades.

Some codepages don't support the ! character, but that doesn't stop
REXX
from supporting codepages that do.   Ditto for the  =AC  (not)
character,
and for that matter, the  =A2  (cent) symbol  (again, which the IBM
mainframe REXXes support,  as well as  PC/REXX  and  R4).

I always disliked the  \ (backslash) for a negation symbol, that's
what the
 =AC  sign is for.   To me, it makes easier reading.  (Your mileage may
vary,
objects in the mirror are closer than they appear, and don't eat the
yellow
snow or the rabbit raisons... yada yada yada).
_____________________________________________________Gerard
Schildberger

In <hrecg61pe8qcfviibtt78fk23ilghgtlgt@4ax.com>, on 12/13/2010
   at 10:50 AM, Glenn Knickerbocker <NotR@bestweb.net> said:

>Even after that, there's always been the confusion of
>two different code points with identical-looking characters in the
>APL character set (E0, B7).

Which confusion? There's confusion between different 3270 code pages,
confusion between different VTIOC translation tables, confusion
between different ISPF translation tables and confusion between 8-bit
codes and GE sequences.

-- 
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT  <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action.  I reserve the
right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail.  Reply to
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