Question on Output indicator pos 21-29 in O-spec

[Ju5]

The presence of a N on Position 21 of the Output Specs has me a bit confused. I know that putting an indicator number on pos 22-23 means that the line should be printed if the indicator is on.

Does having a indicator preceded by N in the O-spec mean the line should be printed if the indicator is NOT on?

 

[MdnghtPgmr]

Ju5,

I believe that is correct. Must be an oldie...

MdnghtPgmr

 

[tcsbiz]

Does having a indicator preceded by N in the O-spec mean the line should be printed if the indicator is NOT on?
[\quote]

Yes. That's what it means. It's an old-school way of controlling variable output. It is normally paired with the same indicator indicating what should be printed when it is ON.

 

[jmd0252]

Yea, baby,, you have to go all the way back to RPG (First), this is conditional printing, before printing was done "on demand". You find this in the "C" specs also,, ie N21,, is when indicator 21 is not on. An example would be if N21,, this would mean some error condition, and print an error message.

 

[tcsbiz]

Yea, baby,, you have to go all the way back to RPG (First)

System/360 RPG and System/3-15D for me. Those were the days. The RPG cycle; using (and abusing) all 99 indicators and needing more. Indicator reuse was such a pain as it could cause unpredictable results if you weren't careful.

 

[jmd0252]

not to mention the 96 column cards,, triple stacked one on top of the other,, plus all those little round pieces of card stock used as confetti,, bring them back baby,, or the system 32,, a half room sized PC,, oh yea..