Well, the version without USING (not USAGE, of course), was not obvious at all 
to me until a few days ago, after 20 years of seeing it and not understanding 
it...  Now that I understand it, though, I do find it quite readable.  And I 
think I agree with your personal rule.

Thanks!
Frank

-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List <[email protected]> On Behalf 
Of Charles Mills
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 9:22 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: alternative to USAGE statement?

An alternative to the USING statement?

The only difference is in the source code. The executable machine code is the 
same. The question is what is clearest to you?

My personal rule is that for one or perhaps two references,
AFLENG-DFHACB(,R12) is simpler and cleaner, and for more references than that, 
you should definitely code a USING/DROP pair. But every coder's mileage may 
vary.

The latter I would call USING/DROP; I don't have a name for the former.
Perhaps "computed offset"?

Charles


-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Swarbrick, Frank
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 5:16 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: alternative to USAGE statement?

20 year amateur assembler programmer here.

Sometimes I see macro expansions (and just open code) with code like the 
following.

         L     12,X'14'(,12)
         AH    12,AFLENG-DFHAFCB(,12)
         L     12,AFPFXLEN+AFTKTCB-AFTSTART(,12)
         LLGT  12,UKTCB_ACTIVE_TASK-DFHUKTCB(,12)
         LLGT  12,UTATCAA-DFHUTASN(,12)

Is that code equal to this?

         L     12,X'14'(,12)
           USING DFHAFCB,12
         AH    12,AFLENG
           USING AFTSTART,12
         L     12,AFPFXLEN+AFTKTCB
           USING DFHUKTCB
         LLGT  12,UKTCB_ACTIVE_TASK
           USING DFHUTASN
         LLGT  12,UTATCAA(,12)

What is the "name" of this usage?

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