[comp.os.vms] Why not Abbreviate DCL symbols....

JSOTTILE@LOYVAX.BITNET (08/09/87)

Of course, in response to the DEL*ETE problem, there is always....


$ DEL** == "DELETE/LOG"

which takes care of the DELETEDKSKJDKJS problem.  You see, if you did the


LOG*OUT :== @SYS$SYSTEM:PURGE, then users could still logout
with


LOGOUTT or LOGOF LOGO (etc), but with the LOG**, if they really wanted to
logout using LOGOUTTT, that would still be covered.

In VMS,the DCL parse routines look for the first four characters, then anything
after that is essentially ignored (except when looking up a symbol, then
the entire line is used).  But, if you use LOGOUTT, there is no such symbol,
so VMS looks in the COMMAND tables using the first four characters.

It gets to be a tug of war between you and your users about who can out smart
the other first!  You could always redefine delete too...  So, you can't win.


- John Sottile
JSOTTILE@LOYVAX.BITNET
Student Systems Programmer
Loyola College in Maryland

"Arrogance is the mother of Invention"