Re: Wusu?

[Pat Barber <mboceanside@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pike4@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> 
> At a potential new client, they mentioned that in addition to applications on 
>the AS/400, they have a little itty bitty app on the S/36, and that they use 
>WSU. I said, no problem, I've heard of that, but now, What the heck was/is WSU?

I think by now you know what WSU stands for, but here is a little more
background.

WSU was introduced on the S/34 to quickly create data entry programs
that would replace key punch machines. The "original" reason was also
to allow folks to begin using terminals as quickly as possible. At the
time RPG and terminals didn't get along particularly well and most
shops had very little experience in using "online" programs. The S/3
folks had "some" terminals but not to the extent that the S/34 created.

The S/34 had NO support for cards as the S/3 did, so in order for people
to very quickly start using a terminal based systems, WSU came about as
a "quick & dirty" way to write terminal based programs. RPG progressed
pretty quickly after that, so RPG was the logical thing to transition to
after folks learned how to deal with online apps. 

WSU is nothing more than the old S&D specs for screens with an limited
version of cals specs used to control the flow of the program. It can be
migrated quite easily with somebody who understands both WSU & RPG. It
even created a MRT program which was a large pain to do in RPG.

IBM pushed this product VERY heavily during the S/34 days and they even 
used it in their own Applications... Primarily DMAS,CMAS,Mapics.......

There was nothing wrong with WSU, just the same old story of learning
another language, which most folks loath....

WSU was of course supported on the S/36 and as things happen, lots of
folks
never got around to migrating code, so in 1988(AS/400) they finally said
that they wouldn't support WSU on the 400 and 10 years later here we are
with WSU still running on machines.

Sorry about my rambling but this story takes place over 25 years....
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