Lesson plan
DIGITAL Command Language
DIGITAL Command Language (DCL) is the standard command language for many of the operating systems created by Digital Equipment Corporation. DCL was originally implemented for IAS as the Program Development System (PDS), and later added to RSX-11M, RT-11 and RSTS/E, but took its most powerful form in VAX/VMS (later OpenVMS). DCL continues to be developed by VSI as part of OpenVMS. DCL is a scripting language supporting several data types, including strings, integers, bit arrays, arrays and Booleans, but not floating point numbers. Access to OpenVMS system services (kernel API) is through lexical functions, which perform the same as their compiled language counterparts and allow scripts to get information on system state. DCL includes IF-THEN-ELSE, access to all the Record Management Services (RMS) file types including stream, indexed, and sequential, but lacks a DO-WHILE or other looping construct, requiring users to make do with IF and GOTO-label statements instead. DCL is available for other operating systems as well, including * VCL and VX/DCL for Unix, * VCL for MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows, * PC-DCL and Open DCL for Windows/Linux * and Accelr8 DCL Lite for Windows. DCL is the basis of the XLNT language, implemented on Windows by an interpreter-IDE-WSH engine combination with CGI capabilities distributed by Advanced System Concepts Inc. from 1997.
Article summary
DIGITAL Command Language (DCL) is the standard command language for many of the operating systems created by Digital Equipment Corporation. DCL was originally implemented for IAS as the Program Development System (PDS), and later added to RSX-11M, RT-11 and RSTS/E, but took its most powerful form in VAX/VMS (later OpenVMS). DCL continues to be developed by VSI as part of OpenVMS. DCL is a scripting language supporting several data types, including strings, integers, bit arrays, arrays and Booleans, but not floating point numbers. Access to OpenVMS system services (kernel API) is through lexical functions, which perform the same as their compiled language counterparts and allow scripts to get information on system state. DCL includes IF-THEN-ELSE, access to all the Record Management Services (RMS) file types including stream, indexed, and sequential, but lacks a DO-WHILE or other looping construct, requiring users to make do with IF and GOTO-label statements instead. DCL is available for other operating systems as well, including * VCL and VX/DCL for Unix, * VCL for MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows, * PC-DCL and Open DCL for Windows/Linux * and Accelr8 DCL Lite for Windows. DCL is the basis of the XLNT language, implemented on Windows by an interpreter-IDE-WSH engine combination with CGI capabilities distributed by Advanced System Concepts Inc. from 1997.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.