Back in the 90s, Object REXX was available on OS/2. I used it to tie a mainframe application on 3270 to SQL calls to update a database for a windows application. Once Object REXX was released on Windows, we moved it off OS/2.
REXX is not PL/I, but very easy to for a PL/I programmer to pick up.
PL/I on the mainframe can be a highly effective application language, but there's a number of features that are ferociously computationally expensive that were acceptable for low volume or one off stuff that had to be avoided by production applications.
COBOL is tedious compared to PL/I. While I had occasion to fix COBOL bugs and performance issues and even taught SQL to COBOL programmers I refused to write COBOL programs.
Then there's Multics PL/I. I did a pilot project to evaluate porting from IBM VM to Multics on Honeywell and discovered a flaky environment. I saved my employer a pile of money by killing that idea. Unfortunately the HW GCOS had to be replaced by a Multics machine which gave no end of problems. Happily that was not my problem.
REXX is not PL/I, but very easy to for a PL/I programmer to pick up.
PL/I on the mainframe can be a highly effective application language, but there's a number of features that are ferociously computationally expensive that were acceptable for low volume or one off stuff that had to be avoided by production applications.
COBOL is tedious compared to PL/I. While I had occasion to fix COBOL bugs and performance issues and even taught SQL to COBOL programmers I refused to write COBOL programs.
Then there's Multics PL/I. I did a pilot project to evaluate porting from IBM VM to Multics on Honeywell and discovered a flaky environment. I saved my employer a pile of money by killing that idea. Unfortunately the HW GCOS had to be replaced by a Multics machine which gave no end of problems. Happily that was not my problem.