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- Newsgroups: comp.lang.pl1,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: PL/I Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- From: robin_v@bigpond.com (Robin Vowels)
- Followup-To: comp.lang.pl1
- Reply-To: robin_v@bigpond.com
- Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked
- Questions (and their answers) about PL/I --
- Programming Language One. It should be read by anyone
- wanting to read the newsgroup comp.lang.pl1.
- It is of interest to anyone wanting to read any
- of the comp.lang.* newsgroups.
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- X-Disclaimer: Approval for *.answers is based on form, not content.
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Date: 16 Apr 2004 12:56:16 GMT
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- Archive-name: computer-lang/pli-faq
- Posting-Frequency: three-monthly (Jan Apr Jul Oct)
- Last-Modified: 29 September 2003
- Version: 1.32
-
- FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
-
- (Q1) What is PL/I?
-
- PL/I is a general-purpose programming language, which
- is used for solving problems in a variety of fields
- such as commerce, science (including mathematics,
- physics, chemistry), engineering (including civil, electrical,
- aeronautics), medicine and so on. It can be used for
- system programming, and the facilitites are such that
- it is rarely if ever necessary to resort to machine-language
- or assembly-language programming to solve problems.
-
- PL/I has outstanding facilities for commercial and business use.
- .
- It has more power than Pascal, Fortran 95, BASIC, C, and
- COBOL, and has comparable facilities to Ada.
- The main areas where PL/I is superior include interrupt
- handling, the built-in debugging aids, the macro
- processor facilities, string-handling, and input-output
- (see below).
- .
- The language has good documenting and self-documenting
- facilities; programs are easy to read and to understand.
- It bears some resemblance to Fortran and BASIC.
- .
- The language is suitable for beginners, as well as for
- anyone wanting to become a professional.
- .
- There's a summary of what you'll find in PL/I at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pliwhat.htm
- .
- or a slightly truncated version at:
- .
- http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/pli/about.htm
- .
- (Q2) On what systems is it available?
- .
- PL/I is available on at least the following systems:
- .
- IBM PC and compatibles (80x86).
- .
- * IBM VisualAge PL/I: is available in 2 versions:
- Professional Edition } Details at the bottom of this posting
- Personal Edition }
- accompanied by the
- live editor LPEX
- ---available from IBM
- .
- * Liant Open PL/I, for Intel running Windows XP, 2000, Me/98.
- Comes with Codewatch, Liant's powerful GIU source code debugger.
- ---available from Liant Software Corporation,
- 8911 N Capital of Texas Hwy 354 Waverley Street
- Austin, Texas 78759-7267 Framingham, MA 01702
- USA USA
- Toll free: 1-800-349-9222
- Tel: (512) 343-1010 (508) 416-1614 Direct
- Fax: (512) 343-9487 or
- Tel: (800) 818-4754 X1614 (USA Only)
- Fax: (508) 278-3841
- (their PL/I generally is available on Unix-based systems)
- See http://www.liant.com/products/pl1
- for a full range of PL/I products.
- .
- * Windows NT -- available from IBM as VisualAge PL/I Professional
- and Personal editions, with the live parsing editor LPEX.
- .
- * Liant Open PL/I for Redhat Linux (Intel).
- .
- * Solaris ix (Intel)
- .
- IBM AS/400
- --- available from IBM.
- .
- IBM mainframes
- --- The followng versions are available from IBM:
- IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS and OS/390
- provides access to DB2, CICS, IMS, and other data and
- transactions systems.
- .
- * VisualAge PL/I for OS/390
- .
- * PL/I for MVS & VM
- .
- * PL/I for VSE
- .
- * PL/I for VSE/ESA is for MVS & VM
- .
- * IBM OS/390 (IBM z/OS) available as Enterprise PL/I.
- .
- HP 9000 HP-UX
- --- available from Liant Software Corporation.
- Comes with Codewatch, Liant's powerful GIU source code debugger.
- .
- UNIX.
- Older versions of Liant Open PL/I exist for Unix variants,
- sold off-the-shelf with limited support. Users can
- inquire at http://www.liant.com
- .
- SPARC Solaris 2.x
- --- available from Liant Software Corporation.
- Comes with Codewatch, Liant's powerful GIU source code debugger.
- .
- IBM RS/6000 AIX
- --- available from Liant Software Corporation (address above);
- Comes with Codewatch, Liant's powerful GIU source
- code debugger.
- --- also available from IBM as Enterprise PL/I.
- .
- Data General AViiON with DG-UX
- --- available from Liant Software Corporation
- Comes with Codewatch, Liant's powerful GIU source
- code debugger.
- .
- Compaq (formerly Digital Equipment Corporation) on Open VMS and Alpha
- AXP systems (Tru64 Unix)
- ---The compilers from Kednos Corporation for these systems are
- called "PL/I for Open VMS" and "PL/I for Tru64 Unix"
- respectively. They took over support for PL/I from UniPrise.
- .
- Take a look at Kednos' web page: http://www.kednos.com
- for manuals and compilers.
- For infomation, contact tom@kednos.com
- .
- Stratus Computer, Inc. under VOS on all their systems except AX/R-S.
- --- available from Stratus Computer, Inc.
- 55 Fairbanks Boulevard,
- Marlboro, Massachusetts 01752.
- .
- Wang/Getronics systems. Recent updates make the compiler Y2K compliant.
- --- available from Wang Laboratories, Billerica, Mass.
- .
- Fujitsu-Siemens BS2000 system.
- --- visit them at:
- http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/servers/pl1/pl1_us.htm
- where you can download a specification brochure in PDF format.
- .
- (Q3) How can I try out PL/I?
- .
- Why not try out one of the demo copies at:
- .
- ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ps/products/pli/demos/
- .
- There's also the original Digital Research PL/I for DOS at:
- .
- http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~cfs/cpm
- .
- It's a subset of PL/I, of course, because it had to fit
- in 64K originally (I think). There's the original manual too,
- in MS Word 6 format, but as it's been scanned, it is incomplete.
- Without an actual manual, I've taken it about as far as I can.
- The PL/I Reference Manual is in Microsoft Word 6 format, zipped at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/ref-w6.zip
- .
- If that mirror site is down, you could try to link to the main site at:
- .
- http://cdl.uta.edu/cpm/cpm.html
- .
- but as there have been problems connecting to it, don't count on it.
- .
- Find the PCDOS section, and then check out DOWNLOADS.
- .
- Be sure to download the utilities (including the linker)
- as well as the compiler and sample codes.
- .
- You'll also need the compiler flags to use it, at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/options.txt
- .
- It you want the CP/M-86 PL/I compiler, go to the same site
- as mentioned above, and go to the PCDOS section, check out
- DOWNLOADS, and the CP/M-86 section.
- .
- To order the compiler from IBM, go to:
- .
- http://www.direct.ibm.com/
- .
- Select "Software", then select "Application Development". (see also
- the end of this posting.)
- .
- On the VMS platform, either VAX or Alpha --
- For personal use, the Kednos PL/I compiler
- and documentation may be downloaded free from http://www.kednos.com .
- To run the free version, you will need a
- Hobbyist license, which may be obtained by following the links
- at http://www.kednos.com .
- If you don't have VMS, you can run the CHARON VAX emulator on W2K.
- .
- (Q4) What do the compilers provide?</H3>
- .
- All compilers provide enhanced versions of the ANSI standard
- (the IBM AS/400 adheres to SAA rules, and DR PL/I implements
- the subset G). There's a
- summary of what you'll find in PL/I at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pliwhat.htm
- .
- Example PL/I source code, to implement the new built-in functions
- (on non-OS/2, non-IBM-Windows and non-AIX systems and non-VisualAge
- compilers on OS/390 machines) for:
- .
- The SEARCH built-in function:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/search.htm
- .
- The SEARCHR built-in function at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/searchr.htm
- .
- and the VERIFY (3 argument version) and VERIFYR built-in functions at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/verify.htm
- .
- (these are in plain text form).
- .
- Further PL/I examples of a tutorial nature are at
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/shell.htm
- .
- (an insertion sort), and a
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/lists.htm
- .
- (a linked list creation procedure (under construction)).
- .
- In each case, click on the keywords for an explanation.
- .
- In the cases of IBM Enterprise PL/I (formerly VisualAge),
- PL/I set for AIX, PL/I for Windows NT, OS/390 and OS/2,
- some important new language features are
- provided and include:
- .
- (a) strongly-typed list processing in which the pointers
- (handles) are bound to the structures with which they
- are linked;
- (b) ordinals;
- (c) user-defined types;
- (d) Unsigned integer type;
- (e) New DO loop options that cause the loop to
- terminate without overrunning the limit (specifically
- for ordinals and unsigned integers); and
- (f) A much-enhanced macro-processor.
- (g) Initial support for wide character set, enabling such files to be
- read and written. A number of new built-in functions for
- wide characters is provided.
- .
- (this is not an exhaustive list)
- There are also some 120 new built-in functions, including
- extra-special DATE/TIME functions, string-handling
- functions, housekeeping functions (e.g.,
- where-am-I-called-from?), and ordinal functions
- (including a function to supply the name of an ordinal!).
- .
- (Q5) What textbooks are available?
- .
- Some of the best include:
- .
- R.A. Barnes, PL/I for Programmers, North-Holland, 1979.
- J.K. Hughes, PL/I Structured Programming, 3rd Ed., Wiley, 1986.
- G.F. Groner, PL/I Programming in Technological Applications,
- Books on Demand, Ann Arbor, MI, 1971.
- M.E. Anderson, PL/I for Programmers, Prentice-Hall, 1973.
- D.R. Stoutemyer, PL/I Programming for Engineering & Science,
- Prentice-Hall, 1971.
- R. Reddy & C. Ziegler, PL/I: Structured Programming and
- Problem Solving, West, 1986, ISBN 0-314-93915-6.
- Check out the Table of Contents:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/reddy.txt
- E. Sturm, Das neue PL/I (fur PC, Workstations and Mainframe
- (in German language), 5th Ed.,
- Vieweg-Verlag (2002)
- ISBN: 3-528-44792-9.
- See the table of contents at:
- http://www.uni-muenster.de/ZIV/Mitarbeiter/EberhardSturm.html
- .
- R. A. Vowels, http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/PLI-BOOK.HTM
- Introduction to PL/I, Algorithms, and
- Structured Programming, 3rd revised Ed., 1998, ISBN
- 0-9596384-9-0. 600+ pages, A4 size.
- See a list of the main algorithms at:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/algor-p.htm
- Comes with a disc containing all the programs,
- procedures, and functions from the book. The
- disc was first published in October 1996, and
- was last updated in April 2001.
- .
- The following are good PL/I reference manuals. (The
- new facilities of PL/I for OS/2 are highlighted. Therefore
- you can use these manuals as references on either mainframe or
- PC system.)
- .
- IBM, PL/I for OS/2: Language Reference, 1994 edition
- IBM, PL/I for OS/2: Built-in Functions, 1994 edition
- IBM, VisualAge PL/I Language Reference, Version 2.1, 1998 edition.
- .
- (Q6) Is there a newsletter?
- .
- Yes.
- The December 2002 issue of "The PL/I Newsletter" may be viewed at:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli-n6.htm
- The August 2002 issue of "The PL/I Newsletter" may be viewed at:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli-n5.htm
- The November 2001 issue of "The PL/I Newsletter" may be viewed at:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli-n4.htm
- The June 2001 issue of "The PL/I Newsletter" may be viewed at:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli-n3.htm
- The September 2000 issue of "The PL/I Newsletter" may be viewed at:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli-n2.htm
- You may download the July 2000 issue from:
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli-n1.doc
- .
- (Q7) Is there a home page?
- .
- There are at least eight of interest:
- http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/pli
- IBM's PL/I Home page. Click on the
- "about" button for the "What is PL/I" page.
- Click on the "Library" button for PL/I Reference
- Manuals for various IBM platforms.
- .
- http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/pli/about.htm
- .
- What is PL/I ? </A> gives you an overview of PL/I.
- .
- http://www.liant.com Liant Software Corporation
- .
- (then click on the LPI button)
- .
- http://www.dec.com/home.html Digital
- (then select OpenVMS ..., or you may find the direct
- link quicker ->
- .
- http://www.kednos.com Kednos
- .
- http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Languages/
- Yahoo's Language directory </A>
- Or if you prefer, you can start on
- http://www.yahoo.com/
- Yahoo's main directory and take
- it from there. When the Languages display comes up, go beneath the
- main list, where you'll find PL/I. Click on that, and then you can
- go to different sites.
- .
- http://home.nycap.rr.com/pflass/pli.htm
- Peter Flass's PL/I home page.
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/why_not.htm
- Why not use PL/I </A>?
- .
- Other possible sites are as follows:
- .
- Japan: http://www.ibm.co.jp/pc/prod/sa/0272.html
- .
- If you know of any other home pages, please advise the author.
- .
- (Q8) Where can I find discussion groups?
- .
- * A PL/I newsgroup was established in January 1996
- following the passing on 3 January 1996 of voting for
- the newsgroup "comp.lang.pl1" (350 votes for, 18
- votes against).
- .
- * Join PL1-L@listserv.dartmouth.edu on the internet.
- To subscribe, send a note to listserv@listserv.dartmouth.edu
- In the body of the note, enter:
- .
- SUB PL1-L yourname
- .
- To post a comment, send it to pl1-l@listserv.dartmouth.edu
- .
- * On Compuserve, enter: go os2df1
- Then go to subsection 6: "Rexx and other languages".
- .
- See also http://www.software.ibm.com/ad/pli/pliforum.htm
- .
- * Russian: Discussion of PL/I in Russian takes place on
- relcom.comp.os.os2.prog
- .
- * German: Seems to take place at: de.comp.sys.amiga.misc
- .
- * Or consider attending a SHARE PL/I presentation as either a
- spectator or presenter. Postings appear from time to
- time in comp.lang.pl1
- .
- (Q9) How did PL/I originate?
- .
- PL/I came into being as a result of an attempt to produce
- a revision of FORTRAN. Such were the changes necessary that
- it was not possible to introduce the new features needed
- to bring FORTRAN up-to-date, and to be compatible with
- existing programs, that it was decided to introduce a
- new language that incorporated the best features of the
- then main languages FORTRAN, COBOL, and Algol.
- .
- Originally, the new language was called "New Programming
- Language", or NPL. However, as these initials were
- already taken by the National Physics Laboratory in
- Britain, the name became PL/I (for Programming Language One).
- .
- The new language contained features not then seen before in
- a general-purpose programming language -- including interrupt
- handling, array operations, list processing, and a macro
- pre-processor.
- .
- There is some controvesy over the name -- whether it is PL/I
- or PL/1. The first manuals (for the first compiler, the
- IBM PL/I (F) compiler) called it PL/I, not PL/1. The ANSI
- standard calls it PL/I. The title of the first reference
- manual is:
- "IBM System 360 PL/I (F) Language Reference Manual", 1966.
- .
- (Q10) What tools are available?
- .
- Some are: [this question is under construction]
- .
- PL/I Analyzer is a reverse engineeering and re-engineering tool,
- available from
- .
- http://www.phoenixst.com/pli-analyzer-info-sheet-1-5.html
- .
- Phoenix Software Technologies, 6701 Democracy Blvd,
- Suite 300, Bethesda MD 20817, U.S.A. Tel (301) 571-2431
- email: info@phoenixst.com
- .
- Version 2.0 is the latest, with Year 2000 diagnosis.
- Phoenix has also released PLI-2000, a tool for locating
- Year 2000 problems.
- .
- Phoenix Software Technologies provides tools and services for Software
- Maintenance, legacy Software reengineering and the Year 2000
- (Y2K, Millennium) Problem including PL/I and Natural/Adabas.
- .
- MicroFocus offers tools to accompany PL/I for OS/2. For more infomation,
- contact them at Suite 400, 2465 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303,
- U.S.A. Visit: http://www.mfltd.co.uk/
- .
- PLIFORM is a PL/I source code formatter, available from
- Magicon, Inc. You'll find them at:
- 1124 Linda Drive, Campbell, California 95008-4507, U.S.A.
- .
- Peter Osterman's PL/I source code reformatter.
- .
- The PL/I source code reformatter for Windows (formpli3.exe,
- 414k self extracting file) created by Peter Ostermann of Germany
- is now freeware.
- .
- The PL/I source code reformatter at:
- .
- http://home.nwn.de/peter.ostermann/formpli3.exe
- .
- can help make jumbled code more readable by putting statements
- on separate lines and pointing out the nesting levels by indention.
- .
- The reformatter is a standalone product, is easy to use, and
- does the job in a few seconds. It requires just one megabyte
- of disk space, so give it a try.
- .
- Send suggestions or comments to: Peter-Ostermann@t-online.de
- .
- Visit: http://home.nwn.de/Peter.Ostermann/hobby.html
- .
- for more information and download on Peter's personal web page.
- .
- This PL/I package from Eberhard Sturm implements the REXX parse macro
- on the mainframe and the workstation:
- .
- http://www.uni-muenster.de/ZIV/Mitarbeiter/EberhardSturm/parse.inc
- .
- (Q11) What's happening? What conferences?
- .
- Find out <A HREF = "wots-hot.htm"> What's New?
- .
- (Q12) Where can I read about PL/I?
- .
- The URL http://www.ionet.net/~mclapper/
- .
- is a white paper on object-oriented PL/I programming.
- .
- An interesting article on PL/I appeared in the Enterprise
- Systems Journal in December 1995. You can view Lou Marco's
- "In Praise of PL/I" at:
- .
- http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/enterp.htm
- .
- Why not take a look at the paper
- .
- http://www.uni-muenster.de/ZIV/Mitarbeiter/EberhardSturm/PL1andC.html .
- Power vs Adventure -- PL/I and C ?
- .
- Another paper on PL/I and C is Richard Perkinson's "To 'C' or Not to 'C'"
- at http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/perkins.htm
- .
- To order PL/I:
- IBM PL/I provides compatible, cross-platform,
- cross-product compilers that support z/OS, OS/390, VM, VSE/ESA,
- AS/400, AIX, and Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000.
- .
- You can now order - and receive - IBM's PL/I for Windows online! Check out
- the Electronic Showcase Delivery (ESD) page at
- .
- http://ism.boulder.ibm.com/es/ESDPilot/startme.htm
- .
- There is also a link to this from the PL/I home page.
- .
- ESD is currently a pilot program and is available in EMEA countries and
- the US.
- .
- .
- You can purchase IBM's Personal PL/I compiler (about $110)
- online and download it in the U.S.A. at
- .
- http://www.direct.ibm.com/
- .
- Select <i>Software</i>, then select <i>Application Development</i>, then
- select <i>Personal PL/I</i> from the pull-down list.
- .
- Personal PL/I for Windows is also available online from
- IBM Australia at
- http://www.ibm.com.au
- for $330.
- Click on: Ready to Buy
- Products and Services
- Application Development
- PL/I Personal
- .
- Liant's Open PL/I may be purchased from Liant at:
- http://www.liant.com/products/pl1
- .
- You may read this in http://www.users.bigpond.com/robin_v/pli_faq.htm
-
-