VAX/VMS and DCL Primer Tutorial
Am gobsmacked that VAX/VMS mainframes and their absolutely stupendous DCL operating system command language software did not make that transition into popular home usage today. It was (and probably is still, with OpenVMS) such a solid and wonderful hardware/software/networking (DECNet) combination, that it is hard to understand how it lost its prominence, except that PCs became the go in the realm of home usage and often with business, as well. Even so, a terminal on a VAX/VMS system was a lot like being on a PC, in that you felt like you had the system to yourself. This is a reflection of how good VAX/VMS was, and OpenVMS probably still is (sorry, have no personal exposure to OpenVMS unfortunately).
It is DCL that was the “gobsmack” in “gobsmacking” (leaving “ing” to financial investors … chortle, chortle). This command language is so powerful, and am sure was the inspiration for a lot of the ideas of other operating systems and their scripting languages.
Just to indulge a bit, the early days for me with computers involved looking after a VAX/VMS 11/780. I’d guess there would be lots of people whose introduction to computing was similar. The VAX/VMS 11/780 was no tiny PC, it was more, your “Big Bertha” of computing, and it used tapes for backup. Computer operations were more the focus in those days, and the maintenance of VAX/VMS 11/780’s was a serious business. Some other companies in the same arena as Digital Equipment (the maker of VAX/VMS) at the time around when VAX/VMS 11/780’s were around, were IBM, Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data, Honeywell, General Electric and RCA.
It is interesting how the mainframe computer lost its gloss with many businesses.
Certainly in the late 1980’s and 1990’s mainframes were useful in businesses where scientific and mathematical computing were important, such as land surveying, photogrammetry and mapping. PCs were invented in 1976, so it wasn’t as if the transition was immediate, but the advent of downsizing definitely, eventually, took hold, in many businesses. Even within the mathematically intense mapping business world, can remember Data General PCs being used directly interfaced to photogrammetry machines (to measure coal stockpile volumes, for instance), so, perhaps, the transition, was already starting to happen.
DCL felt so consistent and solid, and the documentation for it was excellent, as were the documentation for all aspects of VAX/VMS and DECNet.
Link to OpenVMS “spiritual home” at Hewlett Packard … oops … now please try this link (we discovered on 2/5/2024).
If this was interesting you may be interested in this too.
