On Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 2:34:46 PM UTC-7, lgdef...@gmail.com wrote:
> The original DEBE program was written before S/360 had dasd. There was no OS or DOS. There was BAL or Basic Assembler Language and it's card based compiler. DEBE resided on a ¾ in tape spool and had to be mounted on a tape drive to be IPL'd.
> It was not a program that accommodated adding functions.
> It was developed by me at the Chicago Datacenter 1964-65 timeframe. I understood programming and was very good at debugging our customers' programs as it was part of my job. Any programmer looking at the original DEBE source code would agree that I was not a programmer.
> When the first 360's came to the datacenter the only utility programs to help the developers were the Card and Tape Utilities, an IBM Type I program.. They had a lot of flexibility but required punching up some control cards to function. And, the control cards had to be tested to make sure they did job.
> In the testing environment at the Datacenter and in the customers' home shops there was a need for a set of simple utilities. DEBE provided those utilities.
> It was extremely easy to use when compared to the alternatives at that time.
> After IPLing DEBE from tape the console would type ENT PROGID for the user to enter a simple 2-3 letter code. The codes were simple to remember. CC was card to card, TP was tape to printer, TT was tape to tape, TD (as I remember) was a hex print of tape's contents.
> The commands were followed by requests for tape addresses and format.
> There was no formatting of input or output.
> Crude? Yes! Useful? In a great majority of IBM 360 installations you would likely see a DEBE tape hung on tape drive or lying about near by for quick access.
> After the Tape DEBE someone came along and put together a DOSDEBE and someone else came up with an OS DEBE. I am very sure they didn't look at my code. I never used one of these but I'm assuming they had a lot of function and probably some formatting enhancements.
> These programs were written by individuals, not development teams. Including DEBE in their names I take as a compliment.
> Lowell DeFrance

Lowell, what a dang privilege to be able to thank you personally for your early utility!
My 2 copies were, I believe, from your original work. They surely did have to be IPL'd as a standalone utility. I spent many years on s/360's in the USA and /370's in the USA and Kenya. Your DEBE tape was always with me and never failed me. How amazing that at this late year in my life I have the opportunity to acknowledge you! Sir, from a million years ago... Thank You!