MAINFRAME, IBM MAINFRAMES TUTORIAL, JCL TUTORIAL, VSAM TUTORIAL, COBOL TUTORIAL, DB2 TUTORIAL, CICS

Creating and Assembling CICS Maps

2011-05-08T10:42:00.001+05:30

Q. What are the essential elements of a CICS Map? Organic Chemistry involves the study of complex Carbon-compounds, that are made up of simple elements like Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen and combine to form bonds. CICS Maps are like Organic compounds, they consist of several elements, which form bonds and result in a nice, user-friendly interface. Every CICS Map

Working Storage

2011-04-24T09:10:00.001+05:30

Q. Can the Mainframe computer do Math? My Math professor at school taught me, how to calculate the Simple Interest on a Principal amount. The formula for Simple-Interest is I = P x R x T. Mainframe Computers are good at Math. I am going to feed this formula into the Mainframe Computer. Then, I’ll have my computer calculate the Simple-Interest.

Compuware Xpediter

2011-03-31T08:52:00.001+05:30

Q. What is meant by Debugging? To debug is the process of running a step-by-step trace of a software-program source-code in slow-motion, to remove program bugs, defects and resolve Abends. Compuware Xpediter is a debugging tool for COBOL Programs. Debugging programs with Xpediter is a 3-step process. Initially, as a

Segment Search Arguments(SSA)

2011-03-20T18:04:00.001+05:30

Q. Is it easy to search for Data in an IMS Database? My computer keeps crashing, these days. I make a phone-call to the Computer Technician in my vicinity, and ask him to pay a visit. I have got to search, "What's the Phone number of the Technician guy?" I pull out my Yellow-Pages Directory to find out. Its remarkably easy to look-up the

Technorati Verification

2011-03-01T11:17:00.000+05:30

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Get Next CALL – Sequential Retrieval of Data

2011-02-23T18:23:00.000+05:30

Q. What is meant by Hierarchical Sequential Order? An IMS Database has a sequence of records. The sample Inventory-Database that we've been working with, is loaded with the following data-records. Scanning all the records in an IMS Database, and traversing through the entire database is done in a peculiar order. This order is

Introduction to Line-Sequential Files

2011-01-23T15:54:00.001+05:30

Q. What makes Mainframe Files so important? Walk into a Mainframe Data center, and you'll find large amounts of Data being stored in Files – on DASD or Tapes. At Insurance Companies like AIG and AXA, your Insurance Policy Data, the premiums you pay, are stored on Files on Mainframe Systems. Banks like Bank of America, American Express record Credit Card Data, the

Declaring Data in COBOL

2011-01-15T12:44:00.000+05:30

Q. What is a Variable? What are Literals? A Computer Program takes Data as Input, performs processing on the Input Data, and produces and Output. You would like to store the Input Data and Output Results in Computer Memory, so that you can retrieve it for later purposes. Let's take a look at how Computer Memory looks like. Just like on the

How do I learn Mainframe Programming?

2011-01-02T15:26:00.001+05:30

Q. What are the qualities a sound Mainframe Programmer should have? In the IT Industry, engineers who build software programs that run on Mainframe Computers and process huge volumes of Data, are called Mainframe-Programmer(s). Any software-job(be it Mainframes, People-soft, Oracle, Java, or Data-staging) require good logical-skills. You must

Inserting data into an IMS Database

2010-12-26T12:53:00.001+05:30

Q. Give me a rough sketch of this COBOL-IMS Program. I have coded a COBOL-Program to initially load(insert) data into an IMS Database. Broadly speaking, this COBOL-Program reads a Transaction from a Line-Sequential File, and loads it into the Inventory IMS Database. This process is repeated over and over again, until all the transactions from the Line-Sequential File

Preparing a COBOL-IMS Program

2010-12-18T13:04:00.001+05:30

Q. What's the Skeleton of a COBOL-IMS Program? To write a COBOL-IMS Program and win the battle, you must be armed with two heavy-duty tools – ENTRY and GOBACK Statements in COBOL. In the IMS Environment, it’s the IMS/DB Software that is the supreme Commander-in-Chief. The IMS/DB Software will call your COBOL Program. Your COBOL Program is a sub-program to the IMS/DB

ISPF Panel Primer

2010-11-28T19:34:00.001+05:30

Q. What is an ISPF Panel? As a Mainframe Programmer, you constantly work with and use Software Tools such as File-Aid, Expeditor, Abend-Aid etc. which save time and key-strokes. At its heart, these software tools have a power-packed engine(the Main COBOL Program or even a REXX EXEC) that does all the processing. But, its not just the Main COBOL program that makes them

Creating a new IMS Database

2010-11-06T17:49:00.001+05:30

Q. How do COBOL Programs access Data using IMS/DB Software? COBOL-Programs use READ and WRITE Instructions to access Data from Files. This invokes or calls a helper-program called Access-Method. The Access-Method Software actually knows the details of how the data is organized, and the location(place) – where the record is stored physically on the big DASD-Disk. The

Comparing COBOL and Assembler Programs

2010-11-04T13:03:00.000+05:30

Q. What are the different types of Assembler Statements? There are three types of Assembler Statements – (i) Instructions : These are actual Machine Instructions, which when executed by the Mainframe, perform some operation on the Data for example MVC(Move characters) and AP(Add Packed). (ii) Assembler Directives : These are directions, commands or orders meant for

Introduction to IMS/DB

2010-11-02T16:12:00.000+05:30

Q. What is IMS/DB? IMS(Information Management System) is the Hierarchical-Data Management System from IBM. When hierarchical data-structures are implemented using Flat-Files, it is the responsibility of Application-Programmers to ensure that it works flawlessly. Why storing huge-volumes of data having hierarchical-relationship in Flat-Files is a bad idea? Let's say, a

Learning Assembler Language

2010-11-01T12:34:00.001+05:30

Q. Why learn the Assembler Language? Mainframe-Assembler is an old programming platform. Mainframe-Assembler is complex and geeky. Only the so-called Grumpy Old Dinosaur(GOD) programmers of the last century wrote programs and worked extensively on Assembler. Assembler programs are hard-to-maintain. Some of you might be convinced, that Mainframe-Assembler is near

TSO/ISPF Commands

2010-10-30T15:52:00.001+05:30

Q. What is the ISPF Text-Editor? The ISPF Text-Editor is the free IBM Software, used to enter and store data in Mainframe Files. The ISPF Text-Editor is a power-packed word-processor with a plethora of advanced features, that save several key-strokes and time. Although there are other proprietary products such as File-Aid, ISPF Text-Editor is free, light-weight

Get your hands wet on a Mainframe

2010-10-26T18:44:00.001+05:30

1. Use of Terminal Emulator Software. The Terminal-Emulator Software which pretends to be the Dumb Terminal, is like a "Mainframe Web-Browser". With the Emulator Software, you work your way around the Mainframe Computer, and do common day-to-day tasks, such as creating new files, editing files, deleting files, copying data. Starting a New

DB2 Fundamentals

2010-10-17T19:03:00.000+05:30

Q. What is DB2? How does it compare with VSAM Files? DB2 is the Data-Management System from IBM. DB2 is a newer technology, whilst VSAM is old. VSAM(which stands for Virtual Sequential Access Method) is just a Data Access-Method. You can browse a VSAM Dataset in Sequential Mode – Record-by-record. You can do random access – jump(hop), fly directly to a particular

Introduction to CICS GUI Screens

2010-10-10T18:35:00.001+05:30

Q. What is a CICS Map? A CICS Map is a GUI Screen, just like an Internet Web-page. It can have a Title Header, Display-Only Constant Fields which prompt you what information to type, Input Data-Entry Fields where you can type some input with the keyboard, and Output-Fields where the result of processing may be displayed.

Constructing CICS GUI Screens

2010-10-10T14:28:00.001+05:30

Q. What is a CICS Map? A CICS Map is a GUI Screen, just like an Internet Web-page. It can have a Title Header, Display-Only Constant Fields which prompt you what information to type, and Input Data-Entry Fields where you can type some input with the keyboard. Have you come across an application-form, that you’ve got to

COBOL Interview Questions

2010-10-06T20:23:00.000+05:30

01. Name the divisions in a COBOL Program. The four divisions in a COBOL Program are IDENTIFICATION DIVISION, ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, DATA DIVISION and PROCEDURE DIVISION. 02. Tell us briefly about each division. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION is used to establish the Identity of the program, and assigns a unique name to the Program.

DFSORT Tutorials

2010-10-06T20:19:00.001+05:30

Tutorial Link SORT, MERGE and COPY Datasets SUM FIELDS Option Eliminating Duplicate Records from File Re-formatting and Re-arranging Fields in a File OUTREC FIELDS Option Headers and Trailers

CA-7 Commands

2010-07-25T06:31:00.001+05:30

Q. What is CA-7 Scheduler? Where did CA-7 come from? Think of jobs as, Flights taking off from an Airport. On a busy airport, when the clock strikes 09:00 AM, all jobs that were scheduled to depart at 09:00 AM take-off. CA-7 Scheduler manages and oversees all of this. In the Production Environment(where things are running live), you don’t type

COBOL-DB2 Program - Introduction

2010-07-11T07:32:00.001+05:30

Q. What are DB2 Storage Areas? When you write COBOL Programs, that read data records from Files, and store Output results to a File, you must declare Input and Output Storage Areas for the files in the COBOL Program. COBOL has a strict rule – first Declare, then use. Look at the picture above. Firstly whenever, you access data from Files in