MVS TOOLS AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE June 1992 Sam Golob MVS Systems Programmer sbgolob@cbttape.org PUBLIC SOFTWARE TAPES REVISITED. It has been a long time since we did an overview of public domain software tapes and stressed their immense value to a practicing MVS systems programmer. Some of these tapes have been improved through significant new contributions in the past year or two. I can personally testify that the CBT MVS Utilities Tape has come a great distance in the past two years. Deemphasizing the multiple ways in which the public tapes can help your shop, I'd like to concentrate this month on the many more ways they can help you personally, in your growth of understanding and breadth of system knowledge. I'd like to say a few words on how it's possible to use these marvelous materials to your own best personal advantage. Of course, your shop will undoubtedly benefit, but let's concentrate on you first, for now. LEARNING BY CONNECTING TO OTHERS. A new user of a public tape such as the CBT MVS Tape, is first impressed by its size. The current CBT Tape, Version 329 as of this writing, almost fills a 2400 foot tape reel. The next thing one notices is the fact that nearly every software contribution is accompanied by a name and an address. Inside each individual contribution file, there is usually also a phone number. In my experience, contributors to these tapes are gratified that their efforts are being noticed by others. Having called hundreds of contributors over many years, I can accurately say that none of them was ever impolite to me in any way. I have made many friends among them. This can happen to you too. Then there's the knowledge. That's really the bottom line. You can find all sorts of programs that do wonders to utilize various facilities of the MVS operating system and data management. Nearly all of them have source code. You are free to study them, try them, and fix them. It's like bringing a ten-year-old kid into "Toys R Us" and telling him or her: "It's all for nothing. Just take anything you want off the shelf and put it together. Then you can keep it and it's yours!" A lot of system programmers have done a lot of work for their own installations. However, people employed by large companies which are not in the software business, can't enjoy having feedback from a group of users outside their company walls. But with a contribution to a large tape, they can get such satisfaction and conversely, they can also gain access to work from hundreds of other people. If your shop doesn't want to buy software tools for you, you needn't despair and make a fuss about it. Access to these tapes will give you an enormous pool of software tools of every description. AND you can usually see their source code, to learn how the work is done. In some areas, certain utilities on these tapes are better than any vendor software that is currently available. WHAT TAPES ARE THERE? I don't know about all the tapes out there, but I know about quite a few. In Figure 1, there's a pretty good collection of names, addresses and phone numbers to start with. These tapes will keep you busy for quite some time. The "granddaddy" of MVS software tapes is the CBT MVS Tape, started by Arnold Casinghino and built by him for 15 years. I am the current editor of the CBT Tape, having taken it over from Arnie. I "inherited" quite a bundle of material from him. In terms of general coverage of MVS needs, the CBT MVS Tape is by far the most comprehensive single source. The CBT Tape has 472 files, many of which have large collections of tools within them. Getting a current CBT Tape should be the highest priority for every MVS systems programmer. I don't have space in this article to detail the relative merits of all the tapes mentioned in Figure 1. The list is there for you to explore. Of special note are the JES2 Share Tape and the NASPA VIP MVS Tape. I have heard of some tapes from "abroad", such as the UK GUIDE Tape, which aren't readily available in the United States. I would like to hear from any readers outside the United States who have such a user-contributed MVS software collection available to them. Some of the most useful programs I know, have originated from countries other than the United States. I once was the beneficiary, through a NasTEC conference, of a user exit commented in Spanish! Thanks, Jhony. Many of my good tools come from Australia. Thanks, Greg and friends. Let's do some more of this! Thanks to all of you. USING THE TAPES TO IMPROVE YOUR KNOWLEDGE. There are several ways to "break into" the tapes for your own knowledge. One way is to print out the tape documentation, put it into a binder, and leaf through it, looking for things to install that seem interesting to you. This is good general practice. On the CBT Tape (where I'm the editor) I purposely added a section describing what to do first. That section is part of the CBT Tape documentation. I remember taking the documentation file from my first CBT Tape, in a binder, to the beach. Among our "social friends", upon seeing the binder, the nearly universal comment was: "Computers. Yecch. Why don't you read a good novel, or at least a newspaper." (That was before PC's became really popular.) I have courage in my convictions. I told them the "Toys R Us" story. Then I ignored them. I figured I probably got more benefit from my reading than they did from theirs that day. Another way of getting started is to have a problem at work. Sometimes your boss will come and tell you to write a program or an exit to solve the problem. If you have a CBT Tape or a JES2 Tape around, you may not have to write the program from scratch, but you can save a lot of time by lifting someone else's code. There are some "purists" out there who might think it's more "honorable" to write all your own code. But practically speaking, that's not what your companies pay you for, unless there's no other way. Using (and improving) someone else's wheel takes less time, gets the solution to the users more quickly, and costs the company less pay. It's also a good way to become more familiar with the tape. That happens by itself once you're looking in it for something that might help with your problem. You just happen to notice other stuff too. There are some side rewards to all this exploring. Very important, is the personal experience you acquire as a software evaluator. It is possible to become a valued beta tester for one or more software houses, especially when you develop sharpness at the process from long practice with free materials. This gives you exposure to more vendor software than you or your company can normally afford. You might also get the opportunity to make some extra money in a side job, doing this. A little extra work often yields a lot of extra dividends. Then finally, there is benefit to be gained from the pure study of code. Hard work yields knowledge, experience, and ultimate results. Most of the good MVS people whom I know have studied other people's code a lot, besides writing their own. Haven't you ever wondered how a certain program could achieve some marvelous result? Haven't you ever asked, "I wish I could see the see the source code"? Well, now you can. On the public software tapes, almost all of the source code is available. SPREADING THE WORD. There are two schools of thought to this. I've seen some "system doctors" who look at a problem, "do some magic", and keep the solution to themselves. I myself do not subscribe to that approach. Early in my career, I was blessed with an especially fine friend and mentor. I'd call him every day for several years after I was working on my own, and I'd run all my problems of the day past him. It paid off. Even if I'd solved a problem satisfactorily without his help, he would invariably add a lot of extra insight into the issue. My knowledge became much more rounded because of his input. Later, when my circle of knowledgeable friends became wider, I discovered that each of them was able to provide a unique "new view" to any situation. Different people would look at an issue from different angles. Each person's opinion would complement the other person's view, and would shed new light for me, the onlooker. I don't know where I would have been today, without years of these conversations behind me. Consequently, I try and help other people by applying some of my own experiences to their circumstances. Hearing other people's problems gives you broader insight into your own, while it is also helping them. You earn yourself new friends, and lay a foundation of helpers for your own future. Every person in this world is valuable in some way. You never know when the help you gave them, will come back to you later at some unexpected time. I'm always going to be better and more experienced in some way, by helping someone else. The public domain tapes are an extension to this latter approach. And they work especially well if you take the time to call the contributor of the tape file you're using. Most contributors feel flattered and are very helpful when they're called. You'll learn a lot and make new friends among them for the future. IN SUMMARY. Finishing this discussion is for each of you to do on your own. I'd say, the first step is to order one or more of the tapes. The addresses for inquiry are in Figure 1. Follow the "yellow brick road" we've laid out here, and you'll know more about the benefits of this process than I could ever tell you. Good luck in all your endeavors. See you next month. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FIGURE 1. This is a list of addresses and phone numbers you can call to acquire some of the available public tapes. Most of the tapes have no restrictions as to who can get them. Once you've acquired some of these tapes, you can make copies and distribute them to your friends. That divides the handling costs. Remember that many of the tapes are updated often. You can split the ordering among several installations. When a new version comes out, you can all obtain copies. Several NaSPA Chapters maintain tape collections and distribute tapes at their meetings. It pays to go to the chapter meetings, or to send someone there. 1. THE CBT MVS UTILITIES TAPE - This tape is updated often. Try to make sure you have the latest one. And save the older ones too, so you're sure you have source for everything you've installed. You can order the CBT Tape from: NaSPA 4811 S. 76th Street Suite 210 Milwaukee, WI 53220-4362 (414) 423-2420 Or from: Fred Robinson Share Program Library Agency (S.P.L.A) University of Miami 146 Unger Building 1365 Memorial Drive Coral Gables, FL 33124 (305) 284-6257 This address is very important. You can order most of the SHARE-affiliated tapes from S.P.L.A. 2. THE JES2 SHARE TAPE - Order the JES2 Share Tape from: Jack Schudel Northeast Regional Data Center (NERDC) Room 233 Space Sciences Research Building University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 (904) 392-4601 3. THE JES3 SHARE/GUIDE TAPE - Order the JES3 Tape from: Alan Field Wetterau Inc. 345 Dunn Road Florissant, MO 63031-7995 (314) 839-7040 4. THE NASPA VIP TAPES - Order NaSPA's tapes from NaSPA (address above). 5. THE SHARE MVS TAPE - You can order the MVS SHARE Tape from: Fred Robinson SPLA - University of Miami Unger Building 1365 Memorial Drive Coral Gables, FL 33124 (305) 284-6257 6. THE L.A. MVS USERS GROUP TAPE - The administrator of the L.A. MVS Users Group tape is: Tom Beuthin (310) 812-4421 7. THE CICS SHARE TAPE and the PL/I SHARE TAPE - These can be obtained from S.P.L.A. (address above). Be ambitious. Good luck in your efforts.