TSO/ISPF Getting Started
This course will teach you how to use the ISPF File/Program Editor running in a TSO Session to find what program(s) you need to fix and how to apply your edits in a typical Mainframe “Shop”.
What you'll learn
For some, the IBM mainframe world of legacy programs may be a bit intimidating. It is not the finite ecosystem of programming in a java or .Net environment. But (due to a scarcity of resources) you may find yourself being asked to code a quick fix for a COBOL program and - being able to do so - may well be the differentiator that makes you the “go to gal or guy” in an IBM ‘shop”! in this course, TSO/ISPF Getting Started, you’ll learn what to do when you are given a specification. First, you’ll explore the ISPF utilities - where you will be able to search for the programs that you'll need to analyze and copy to your own project libraries for the fix. Next, you’ll discover how to set up PF keys so you can hot key from panel to panel, under different menus and organize your workflow by creating test and staging (PDS) libraries. Finally, you’ll learn how to use ISPF command lines and line commands to edit your fixes and limit your edits to just the few lines of COBOL. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge needed to fix COBOL programs and stage the results in a manner that seasoned COBOL programmers would consider as consistent with their own standards and, perhaps, you will realize why those same programmers prefer using the ISPF editor as the easiest and fastest way to get the job done.
Table of contents
- Personal Introduction 1m
- Overview - TSO vs. ISPF, Panels Not Windows, Keys vs. Mouse 2m
- Who Still Uses IBM's TSO & ISPF? 1m
- What Is TSO and Why Do We - Not - Use It? 2m
- What Is ISPF and Why Do We Use It Instead of TSO? 2m
- Why Are There No Files - Why Are They Called 'datasets'? 5m
- Why Does the ISPF Utilities Panel Help Us Understand 'datasets' 9m
- Summary: Now We Know About Datasets and Why We Use ISPF 2m
About the author
George Rady, started taking night school classes and punched out (literally, on punch cards) his first COBOL program into a card reader at Computer Learning Center back in 1983. He has just completed several years with JP Morgan / Chase rolling new code (digitally) into production for the largest Credit Card processing platform in the world. In the intervening years, he has worked for dozens of companies, on hundreds of projects; coding for petabyte IMS and DB2 databases, to coding VSAM applicat... more