Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

Interviewer: What is a Dummy Utility and what it does?

Ankit: What is dummy utility, can you please elaborate ?

Interviewer: So you don't know about it?

Ankit: I might but may be I don't call it dummy. If it's a utility itmust be doing something. So word dummy confuses me. What exactly you are asking, if you please hint me I can answer.

Interviewer: Asks next question...

In the end when I asked him again and again he said he was talking about IEFBR14!

I was shocked as I have used IEFBR14 in creating files but never called it as dummy utility. Can IEFBR14 be called dummy utility and if it can why it is called so? Can some one please help me on this?

I've never heard IEFBR14 called the dummy utility, but I can see the term being used.  IEFBR14 consists of a BR 14 assembler instruction, so all it really does is return to the calling program (usually the operating system).

IEFBR14 called as dummy utility because it almost do nothing. Please refer the link


https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgece ... EFBR14.htm

Thanks,
Chandan

I've never hard of IEFBR14 being called "the dummy utility". I'd have done exactly the same as Ankit. Although perhaps I'd have said a little more at the end. Everybody and their dog has used IEFBR14, and any site that thinks they've got a cool cutesy name for it, and that someone who is prepared to "guess" when given the cool, cutesy, name is somehow better qualified for the job is a pretty stupid site (or interviewer, or interview-writer - I suspect the latter here).

I'll also not call it as "dummy utility". And if I do, I'll make a context about it, set-up it calling "dummy" among the attendees and then later I might use it in such context, without that it'll just create confusion nothing else.

I have cited an example a couple of times but it make sense to quote it again here - in an interview, I was asked trivial question, "what is the difference between OLD and KEEP in DISP parameter?"

I started by saying, if the site is SMS managed... and 15 minutes later we (read it as interviewer) agreed that SMS on zOS and "SMS" I got for the interview-location this morning are two dramatically different animals!

When you talk about "dummy utilities", remember the following:

 IEFBR14 does not open the DD, so it's good for deleting, but not for allocating.

Use IEBGENER with SYSUT1 dummied and SYSUT2 with the correct DCB.
Gene

IEFBR14 does not open the DD, so it's good for deleting, but not for allocating.

wiser to review Your ideas...
the fact that IEFBR14 does not open the DD will not prevent the allocation.
if it were so gazillions of jobs from the seventies up to now woukd miserably fail.
see here
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgece ... EFBR14.htm

 IEFBR14 does not open the DD, so it's good for deleting, but not for allocating.

As mentioned, you are not correct here.  IEFBR14 is not the utility of choice when allocating a new data set which will be opened for INPUT in a later step of the job; in this case it is better to use another utility such as IEBGENER that opens the data set for output in the allocation step.  However, when allocating a data set which will be used for OUTPUT in a later step, IEFBR14 works just fine.

Robert Sample wrote:I've never heard IEFBR14 called the dummy utility, but I can see the term being used.  IEFBR14 consists of a BR 14 assembler instruction, so all it really does is return to the calling program (usually the operating system).

Thanks Robert. May be because of your experience, you can see it being used but I think it's not that usual...

Chandan Yadav wrote:IEFBR14 called as dummy utility because it almost do nothing. Please refer the link


https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgece ... EFBR14.htm

Thanks,
Chandan

I saw that link but I could not find if dummy is used somewhere to refer to IEFBR14, officially. "Do (almost) nothing" has been used for it but not dummy.

I've never hard of IEFBR14 being called "the dummy utility". I'd have done exactly the same as Ankit. Although perhaps I'd have said a little more at the end. Everybody and their dog has used IEFBR14, and any site that thinks they've got a cool cutesy name for it, and that someone who is prepared to "guess" when given the cool, cutesy, name is somehow better qualified for the job is a pretty stupid site (or interviewer, or interview-writer - I suspect the latter here).

Thanks William. Thanks again as I thought I behaved badly. What is "interview-writer"?

I'll also not call it as "dummy utility". And if I do, I'll make a context about it, set-up it calling "dummy" among the attendees and then later I might use it in such context, without that it'll just create confusion nothing else.

I have cited an example a couple of times but it make sense to quote it again here - in an interview, I was asked trivial question, "what is the difference between OLD and KEEP in DISP parameter?"

I started by saying, if the site is SMS managed... and 15 minutes later we (read it as interviewer) agreed that SMS on zOS and "SMS" I got for the interview-location this morning are two dramatically different animals!

Thanks Anuj. That would make it meaningful, without context how would I understand it!

mmcrew wrote:When you talk about "dummy utilities", remember the following:

 IEFBR14 does not open the DD, so it's good for deleting, but not for allocating.

Use IEBGENER with SYSUT1 dummied and SYSUT2 with the correct DCB.
Gene

So did you mean there are other universal utilities from IBM which can be called "dummy utilities" apart from IEFBR14? And every utility which does not open the DD, souldbe called "dummy utility"?

Get out of the idea of a 'dummy utility' - there is no such thing. Every DDname supplied to a job step which is not known by the program in that step will be ignored (not opened/closed) but the OS will still pay heed to the DISP parameters.

nicc wrote:Get out of the idea of a 'dummy utility' - there is no such thing. 

Ditto.

The person presenting/conducting even a technical interview may be a Human Resources/Personnel person, and not know any of the technicalities. Someone writes the questions and answers for them.

You can often get a good idea when you ask for clarification, and none is given. Like in your case. For a technical person the question was just nonsense. A non-techical person just waits for your answer, which has to match, pretty exactly, the answers on their list.

The person who makes the questions and answers is the "interview-writer" - the person who writes the interview.

My wild and useless guess was that some technical question was "re-written" by some non-technical person and then presented by another non-technical person.

William Collins wrote:My wild and useless guess was that some technical question was "re-written" by some non-technical person and then presented by another non-technical person.

You've been in to the system, for sure, longer than I've anticipated!  

This is a good example of how someone can not selct you in an interview...

Yeah, perhaps, i was not selected for that round...