Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

Hi,

I want to learn Assembler, however I find it bit tough to understand, as there are many topics which talk about assembler not being in use much.

On the other hand, can you please help me the way I should start learning High Level Assembler - what should I start with? Kind of what syllabus to learn?

I know working with COBOL, JCL and DB2 already, will this help?

System programmers still use assembler -- most operating system and JES exits are written in assembler.

Assembler is so closely tied to machine architecture that I strongly recommend getting one of the books on it (Amazon has various IBM assembler books, even though the prices are high). I learned from Assembler Language Programming: The I. B. M. System 360 and 370 by George W. Struble, and it was a good book to learn from. While it was published in 1975, the concepts and instructions used still exist under z/OS and hence the book is still valid even though it does not cover any of the more recent changes (such as architecture level, 64-bit registers, and so forth).

Knowing another language such as COBOL is a great help -- you won't be struggling with the concept of loops while attempting to learn how loops are done in assembler. A lot of things done by COBOL for you, such as establishing addressability and save area chaining, for example, you must do in assembler.

In addition to what Robert has said, you might like to consider the book from Bill Qualls as well - here is a description about that: resources-for-assembler-t94.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope this helps.

Thanks Robert and Anuj.