Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

I actually wrote a source code processing program to do exactly that. Can you please share the code, if it can be shared here? Here's the essential code (for fixed-length COBOL source files), based on the recently posted GET/PUT Assembler shell format (posted under the Convert "VB to FB file b...

So many of these basic "input this/output that" requirements can easily be solved by simply inserting "specific code" into a small GET/PUT Assembler shell with an appropriate output file DCB: GETPUT CSECT BAKR 14,0 LR 12,15 USING GETPUT,12 PRINT NOGEN OPEN (INFILE,INPUT,OUTFILE,O...

From the File Aid MVS Reference Summary, p. 68: [ ftp://ftp.compuware.com/pub/cso/germany/pub/Hapag/File-AID%20MVS%20Reference%20Summary.pdf ] RDW Controls the inclusion or exclusion of the record descriptor word for variablelength record processing. Must be the first parameter specified after a fun...

Whenever I encounter a source deck with all numerics in cols 1-7, one of the first things I do is to immediately overlay those lines with spaces. I actually wrote a source code processing program to do exactly that. Better to have nothing at all than have something that means nothing.

CODE: SELECT ALL LINKAGE SECTION. 01  A PIC X. 01  B.     05  FILLER PIC X(7). Indeed, putting the definitions in the LINKAGE SECTION means no memory is "taken" at all! It occurs to me there are even ambiguities in the meaning of "taking memory" which can cause much confusion he...

the first example specifies eight fields of one byte each, whilst the second specifies only seven. OK, I'll make the case a bit more clear: 01 A PIC X. 01 B. 05 FILLER PIC X(7). Now, which takes more memory, "A" or "B"? The answer is "A" and it's been that way since at...

So, what exactly is the answer to the question? "In the past..." and "These days" aren't compiler specifications. Given the following, which takes more memory? ______ (A) ________ | _______ (B) ___ 01 FILLER PIC X. __ | __ 01 FILLER. 01 A PIC X. _______ | _____ 05 A PIC X. 01 B P...

... but the system overhead will be less with FB versus FBS. Found this forum topic while googling info on FBS. An excellent, detailed answer except for this little bit. According to "DFSMS: Using Datasets" http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/BOOKS/DGT2D4A0/3.1.2.1 - &quo...

Thanks, looks great! I should mention that this is a copy of something I posted to LinkedIn, which is the reason for the leading "_" characters. LinkedIn removes leading spaces so you lose all indentation without them. If this site preserves leading spaces, those could be removed.

Here is a complete example (code, JCL and data) using an Alternate Index with ESDS. A fixed-length ESDS base cluster is created, then loaded with 80-byte records having an 8-byte "key" (sequence number) in position 1, then an alternate index is built, keyed on that sequence number and poin...