Amazon.com: Year 2000 Mainframe Survival Guide with CDROM (9780130104816): Sunny Easwaran, Mary Easwaran: Books

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 1998

As the Y2K crunch gets worse, the need for mainframe-capable remediation programmers is soaring. This book will help any programmer learn the skills they need to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime market opportunity. It's a concise tutorial and reference to the mainframe environment for programmers, project managers and analysts involved in Y2K remediation or legacy-to-client/server migration projects. It focuses on a "quick ramp up" for MVC, JCL, CICS and other mainframe functions, and contains extensive coverage of COBOL for Y2K remediation and legacy data migration. The authors build an example COBOL application, complete with Y2K date conversion problems, and demonstrate exactly how to solve those problems.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } As the Y2K crunch gets worse, the need for mainframe-capable remediation programmers is soaring. This book will help any programmer learn the skills they need to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime market opportunity. It's a concise tutorial and reference to the mainframe environment for programmers, project managers and analysts involved in Y2K remediation or legacy-to-client/server migration projects. It focuses on a "quick ramp up" for MVC, JCL, CICS and other mainframe functions, and contains extensive coverage of COBOL for Y2K remediation and legacy data migration. The authors build an example COBOL application, complete with Y2K date conversion problems, and demonstrate exactly how to solve those problems.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Preface
The IT industry is currently facing a shortage of mainframe programmers. Technical schools are not churning out programmers with mainframe skills as in the past, and experienced mainframe programmers have been leaving for more fashionable positions in C, C++, JAVA or WINDOWS, or simply retiring. Many in the industry thought that mainframe skills were no longer needed. However, a great many mainframe systems are still alive and well, and critical to business. The IT industry is currently faced with an urgent need to upgrade all these old systems for the year 2000 problem. Although the actual coding needed to solve this year 2000 situation in any one program is minimal, the number of programs to be corrected is staggering. There are only a finite number of days before the turn of the century. There are too many programs remaining to be fixed to accommodate in the routine release management processes. This means that many opportunities are now opening up for people with mainframe skills (read higher pay). We think this book could prove very useful as a quick refresher course for people who once had mainframe skills, but are out of touch. It could also prove very useful for programmers from other environments who would like to learn mainframe skills.

This book has all the basic information necessary to become a mainframe programmer in one single place. There are a lot of separate books on COBOL, IMS, JCL, VSAM, and so on, but there is no single source that explains all the concepts in one place. We feel that this book will fill this vacuum.

AUDIENCE FOR THIS BOOK
This book is aimed at individuals who have some background in programming, and who need to become proficient on the mainframe. It will be very useful for those people who have had some experience with the mainframe in the past, who have drifted away from the mainframe, but would like to come back. It should also prove very useful to people with mainframe training, but little practical experience, or to experienced programmers in other technologies who need to pick up mainframe skills. It will also be useful to current mainframe programmers who are moving to a new project that emphasizes a different aspect of the field, or who simply want a handy reference book that covers the entire field.

This book is not a primer on any one particular topic, but this book will enable you to survive in a mainframe environment. Although it is not an exhaustive treatment of any topic, we have included enough material in each topic so that you can survive with minimal help. Practical examples of the most useful features of all the topics are included, as well as many useful tips.

The CD accompanying this book includes sample programs, sample JCL, and sample control cards that can form skeletons for nearly any code you would need to write in a typical business application.

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
This book is divided into two parts. PART 1: Mainframe for the New Millenium begins with an overview of the mainframe, giving a bit of the history behind the current status of the mainframe environment. It continues with some insights into the direction that the mainframe environment appears to be heading. It then gives an overview of the year 2000 problem. This includes a summary of the problem itself, and a detailed description of many of the strategies involved in fixing the problem.

PART 2: Mainframe Technical
Review is an overview of the most frequently used features of the mainframe. It begins with ISPF/PDF, which is the gateway to the mainframe. After explaining the most useful features of ISPF/PDF, we continue with an overview of COBOL. The discussion of COBOL is based on 2 sample programs, which are printed in their entirety in the appendix, and included on the CD. Using these sample programs as illustrations, all of the salient features of COBOL are explained.

The book then continues with an overview of JCL, again including many complete examples for illustration. The Utilities chapter includes discussions of all of the most common IBM utilities, as well as SYNCSORT, again including examples. In Command Procedure Languages, there are overviews of CLIST, REXX and ISPF Dialog Manager. Again, complete examples are included, and the examples taken together form a small system that can be used to customize and submit compile JCL.

The next chapter in the book is a discussion of VSAM. There is a high level discussion of VSAM, followed by an overview of the IDCAMS control cards needed to accomplish the standard tasks with VSAM. This is followed by a discussion of how VSAM data sets are accessed from COBOL programs. Again, there are sample IDCAMS control cards both in the text and on the CD, and the programs from the COBOL chapter are re-written to use VSAM. This new sample program is included in the appendix and on the CD.

The next chapter is an overview of IMS-DB. This chapter is based on the same COBOL program we have been using through-out, but now re-written to access IMS databases instead of flat files. After giving a high level discussion of many of the concepts of IMS-DB, we continue with the JCL and control cards needed to do the DBD gens and PSB gen for our new program. We then continue with a detailed discussion of how IMS databases are accessed from COBOL programs, using the sample program for illustration. Again, the JCL, control cards and sample program are all included on the CD.

The next chapter is an overview of DB2. Again, we are using the same COBOL program, but this time re-written to access DB2 tables. Sample DDL to create the necessary tables is given and explained, and a detailed discussion of how DB2 tables are accessed from COBOL programs follows, using the sample program for illustration. Again, the DDL and sample program are included on the CD. Next we continue with on-line programming. There is an overview of IMS-DC, and the MFS and COBOL programs needed to create and handle a menu screen are given. Again, the concepts involved are illustrated by discussions of the samples, which are included on the CD.

In the next chapter, we translate the IMS-DC example into CICS, and discuss the necessary concepts using the resulting BMS and COBOL code, which, again, are included on the CD.

In the chapter on reporting tools, we create reports based on the files that were used in the preceding chapters. Similar reports are created using Easytrieve, SAS, SYNCSORT and SPUFI. Again, the software used in these examples is included on the CD.

The testing chapter begins with an overview of testing methodology. We then follow with discussions of BTS, DFSDDLT0, COMPAREX, SPUFI, File-AID, and XPEDITER, basing examples on the software used in the preceding chapters. Again, examples are included on the CD. This chapter ends with a summary of the most common completion codes, and a short overview of Abend-AID dump reading. The last chapter in Part 2 is an overview of the performance tools that are available on the mainframe.

The book concludes with a number of Appendices. The topics covered in the appendices are accessing the mainframe from a PC, tips for UNIX programmers, tips for people from event-driven backgrounds, typical interview questions, installation specific information, and websites for further information. There is also an inventory of the software examples that are included on the CD, and listings of the software on the CD that are not found in their entirety in other parts of the book.
Xvi -Preface
Preface -xvii

From the Back Cover

As the Y2K crunch gets worse, the need for mainframe-capable remediation programmers is soaring. Year 2000 Mainframe Survival Guide will help every IT professional master the skills they need to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime market opportunity, and to provide legacy data migration solutions long after the Year 2000. And if you're a former mainframe programmer, you won't find a better refresher anywhere! This concise tutorial and reference covers an exceptionally wide range of mainframe technologies, including:

* ISPF program development facility
* COBOL syntax, structure, subroutines, and sorting
* JCL syntax, statements, and catalog procedures
* IBM and third-party utilities, including SYNCSORT
* VSAM
* IMS database programming, IMS DC, and CICS

Year 2000 Mainframe Survival Guide contains practical coverage of Y2K mainframe techniques, including: inventorying existing software, evaluating potential costs and impacts, using pivot years and date expansion, working with conversion tools, and testing Y2K changes. You'll also find real-world coverage of integrating mainframes in a PC environment, including the best ways to deliver mainframe data to the desktop. Mainframes aren't just alive and well: they're still the #1 platform for business-critical applications. Shouldn't up-to-date mainframe expertise be part of your repertoire?

In addition to sample Y2K windowing examples in the text the accompanying CD-ROM includes more than 40 examples of mainframe code and tools you can copy or adapt for your own needs, including JCL routines, COBOL programs, IDCAMS control cards , CLIST and REXX examples, IMS and DB2 access, and more.

See all Editorial Reviews