turnkey mvs and cobol/jcl environment

[johnmbouma]

Hey, I'm new to turnkey mvs - I am currently in a college class where we use cobol,370 assembler and jcl on a system9 ibm mainframe. I set up a herc/turnkey environment, but cannot seem to find any instructions on how to install and configure either the cobol compiler or any of the software needed for the text based tso client that we use for class (I'm not expecting a duplicate, just something usable)
If anyone has any instructions or tips, they would be appreciated. I am pretty much a mainframe beginner so as specific as possible instructions are definately appreciated.

Thanks,

John

[Peter Vels]

Post by johnmbouma
Hey, I'm new to turnkey mvs - I am currently in a college class where we
use cobol,370 assembler and jcl on a system9 ibm mainframe. I set up a
herc/turnkey environment, but cannot seem to find any instructions on how to
install and configure either the cobol compiler or any of the software
needed for the text based tso client that we use for class (I'm not
expecting a duplicate, just something usable)
If anyone has any instructions or tips, they would be appreciated. I am
pretty much a mainframe beginner so as specific as possible instructions are
definately appreciated.
Thanks,
John

Hi John,

I hope you enjoy your journey. There is a COBOL compiler already installed
in Turnkey 3. Start by looking at SYS2.JCLLIB(TESTCOB). You can submit this
job and then see the output at the bottom of the file prt00e.txt in the prt
subdirectory (under where you installed mvs38j) on your PC. This assumes you
have a fairly vanilla install of Turnkey 3.

I don't know what text-based software you are referring to. What is it?

Let us know how you go.

Peter

[accessregister]

.. where we use cobol ..

don't expect too much. You are using a grandfather COBOL with language constructs which are obsolete today or disputable.

Before you spend time to get things running, look for a old COBOL instruction manual and check the available COBOL-instructions. Perhaps you will find that your idea of coding in the college class during the day and testing in the evening (on your private mainframe) won't work.
But if you act as a archaeologist, your're welcome.

Jo

[Andreas F. Geissbuehler]

Original Message johnmbouma

Post by johnmbouma
I am currently in a college class where we use cobol,
370 assembler and jcl on a system9 ibm mainframe.
I set up a herc/turnkey environment ...

I second Jo on this and URGE YOU to continue with herc
and MVS 3.8j, even Assembler 370, but forget COBOL.

You need to master current, modern COBOL which you can
accomplish short-term by visiting Prof. Don Higgin's website
at www.z390.org. Don's Java-based zASM and zCOBOL at
www.zcobol.org are modern, state-of-the-art implementation
which I recomend you should evaluate and consider to use,
instead of, in addition to and/or in combination with TK3.

Above I wrote "short-term"...
Anyone, where have IBM's brilliant marketing gurus of yesterday
gone? Why is a student, the next generation mainfame specialists
scrootching around in an attic for anything useful to learn COBOL?
Why can't he download a "zLCD" personal-use licensed z/OS 1.4
with all tools needed for learning mainframe programming?

Andreas F. Geissbuehler
AFG Consultants Inc.
http://www.afgc-inc.com/

[accessregister]

Post by Andreas F. Geissbuehler
Why can't he download a "zLCD" personal-use licensed z/OS 1.4
with all tools needed for learning mainframe programming?

Hi Andreas,

I guess IBM had to give a lot of IBM-copyrighted, 3rd-Party-copyrighted, high-prized and ... software away - and dont't forget: Z/OS 1.4 is a fully production ready base system. Additionally I guess you cannot run a Z/OS without RACF and DB/2 (because Z/OS needs some of their functionality for himself).
And you won't even cut a FTP out of Z/OS because it uses some FTP-tables for code-conversion. What about the documentation/manuals of that stripped system ? Who records all the changes made and build a separate copy of the manuals for the beginners, so that they are not misleaded ?

So from my point of view IBM had to do a tremendous lot of work to get all this running. Even hard for us, I understand IBM.

Check the IBM webpages named 'Enterprise Modernization Sandbox for System z' and decide if this is suitable for you.

Jo

[laddiehanus]

Post by accessregister
Additionally I guess you cannot run a Z/OS without RACF and DB/2 (because Z/OS needs some of their functionality for himself).

I have 3 z/OS 1.10 LPARs without DB2.
I have run z/OS 1.7 without RACF. I only started using it for TCPIP. A mini security system could be written to give enough functionality to allow Unix System Services to run.

Laddie Hanus

[cedarlakebuzzards]

Post by Andreas F. Geissbuehler
Original Message johnmbouma

Post by johnmbouma
I am currently in a college class where we use cobol,
370 assembler and jcl on a system9 ibm mainframe.
I set up a herc/turnkey environment ...

I second Jo on this and URGE YOU to continue with herc
and MVS 3.8j, even Assembler 370, but forget COBOL.

I do not agree. I started working in 1974 when MVS 3.8j was current.
The TK3 system is basically the same environment we had in production
back then, The only real difference is we were using JES3 rather than
JES2.

IBM Cobol is forward compatable, meaning many of the old programs will
still compile and run with little or no change. The COBOL compiler
included with TK3 is outdated with regards to the modern COBOL language
extensions but as a learning tool, it is a very good starting point. I
used to teach a COBOL programming class and TK3 was more than adequate.

Post by Andreas F. Geissbuehler
You need to master current, modern COBOL which you can
accomplish short-term by visiting Prof. Don Higgin's website
at www.z390.org. Don's Java-based zASM and zCOBOL at
www.zcobol.org are modern, state-of-the-art implementation
which I recomend you should evaluate and consider to use,
instead of, in addition to and/or in combination with TK3.
Above I wrote "short-term"...
Anyone, where have IBM's brilliant marketing gurus of yesterday
gone? Why is a student, the next generation mainfame specialists
scrootching around in an attic for anything useful to learn COBOL?

In many cases, the business world does not seem to care about the future
of mainframes. My company is laying off the mainframers and hiring
"kids" with PC skills but no mainframe skills. Many American
universities have stop teaching mainframe topics.

Post by Andreas F. Geissbuehler
Why can't he download a "zLCD" personal-use licensed z/OS 1.4
with all tools needed for learning mainframe programming?
Andreas F. Geissbuehler
AFG Consultants Inc.
http://www.afgc-inc.com/