IBM Mainframe Books

Got the equavalent of what it cost me after about 5 minutes. Great reference and have just recently started at chapter 3 for in-depth how to instructions.

Well written.

This book is fairly comprehensive. There were just a few topics I would have liked to have seen more on. All in all, it really helped me get the job done.

This book was just what I needed. I'm an RPG programmer who has to learn SQL for a new application we're developing. Found most of what I needed here.

I had a vendor in the day this came to work. He asked me if I had a good SQL book and I replied, "Let's find out" and opened the box. It was perfect for what we needed. I have used it several times and it is easy to read. Being new at SQL on the 400, I am a little frustrated with the index. I was trying to figure out how to substring and couldn't find a reference anywhere. Twice I have had to forego the book and ask another person.
It is a great learning tool and I'm very glad I bought it.

SQL the standard for data access is now presented in a AS400/iSeries user format. The differences that exist for the DB2/400 user are minor but significant enough to warrant 500 pages plus.

Conte and Cravitz flood the text with real working examples that hit homeruns with the IBM midrange user. Yet, minus the sprinkling of RPG/ILE & Cobol code any DB2 user would find the text extremely helpful.

Keep this book at the ready since it's a "quick grab" when questions come up regarding triggers, UDF's or Database Modeling and design.

The Book is a great starting point for the AS400/iSeries guru looking to open their database to the outside world. With a solid SQL footing the JDBC mountain is a much easier climb.

Conte & Cravitz keep up the great work!

In days past when I was up to my tush in alligators while attempting to drain the swamp (of IBM mainframe applications) I used only one reference each and every day: this book.

This may be the only book in the world that makes IBM's condition code job control understandable.

With this book you can make IBM's JCL rock and roll to your music.

This is the bee's knees.

MVS Job Control Language explained in easy to understand language.

There is lot's more than just JCL. There are, for example, explanations of file Data Control Blocks, MVS Utilities, compilers, linkage editors and many more subjects of interest to anyone working on MVS.

An absolute must if you write JCL. I have it to hand on my desk all the time.

I have used Brown's books since his first 370 edition. Brown explains the often obtuse JCL with clarity not often found in technical books. It is an elegant presentation of the most central tech skill to mainframe systems. His handling of utilities is equally well done.

This book is the "bible" for all Mainframe programmers/analyst. I've had his original book....OS360 JCL decades ago and it taught me everything I needed to know about JCL. The new version is just as good....probably better!

I really like this book and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a reference to JCL and to grasp JCL concepts.

For those not acclimated to the mainframe environment I would recommend reading chapter 21-22 first. They cover ISPF and TSO which is the Mainframe "IDE" in the JCL Context. It is the method in which you code JCL, submit JCL, Debug JCL. I know the focus on the book is JCL, but I would have thought the ISPF TSO Chapters would be in the beginning. Still, a well written book.

This book is loaded with information on how to code JCL efficiently. We cut the run time for a 12 hour job to 3 hours using this book. I highly recommend the book for IT Professionals working with JCL.

This book is loaded with practical and valuable information. Excellent tool--even experienced IT professionals will benefit from the tips and techniques.

This JCL publication has all the parameters and statements most often used. The book also presents the most efficient and effective means to code the most common JCL parameters and statements. Olivia Carmandi hit the bullseye, writing a book that contains practical day to day answers in an easy to use format and size, an appealing tool to the busy IS professional.

This is an outstanding book that addresses and responds to the needs of its target audience in a very time efficient, practical, and helpful manner. Five stars.

A good little book for the most commonly used JCL and ideal for someone who does not have to deal with JCL on an everyday bases. The format is easy to follow and book size makes is easy to slip it into you pocket.

The focus of this book is on developing your survival skills quickly, helping you grasp and understand major concepts and terms so you can be productive in days; not weeks or months. JCL is an intense and complex computing skill and highly-valued in the industry. Traditionally, learning JCL takes years, learning small components at a time. Many programmers and operators eventually give up the chase. This book will help ensure that you don't. To paraphrase the line, "this is not your father's JCL manual." This book is not a thousand pages of prose, explaining every conceivable element that might appear in JCL. Instead, it focuses on what is actually being used in the computing world and packages it for easy consumption. I wish such a book had been available when I was learning JCL many years ago.

Happy Reading!! David Shelby Kirk

This is a GREAT book for people who know COBOL and need to know the differences among the COBOL versions. This book is LOADED with programming tips.

Covers how to improve coding techniques along with the differences in COBOL versions. Great for seasoned programmers too.

This book is for programmers who learned OS/VS COBOL or COBOL II and are now upgrading to COBOL/390. This is IBM's latest version of COBOL, with an emphasis on open systems and object orientation. There are a lot of new features in COBOL/390 and David Shelby Kirk describes them clearly and thoroughly.

The book was written for experienced professionals, not for novices or entry level programmers. The book does not explain basic syntax of statements or other organizational aspects of a COBOL program. I wrote the book for the professional programmer who already knows COBOL and wants to move that skill to a higher level. This includes incorporating the COBOL language with the enterprise server environment for effectiveness and efficiency, and creating extended software architectures.

To my knowledge, there are no other books that focus on the advanced techniques of COBOL in the IBM enterprise environment. This book introduces new techniques for program structure and memory management and explains the major components of optimizing programs within the IBM enterprise environment. If you are developing enterprise applications, this is the book for you. IBM has made major expansions in COBOL in recent years and this book will help you unlock those new features.

For the basics, this is an excellent writeup and you SHOULD have it. What is NOT covered is LE and object programming. Intrinsic functions are slighted but you can figure them out.

The author is very upfront about not covering the object extensions - I can almost forgive him. But these are the future - our top management is very object/web oriented.

I think there is a slide on the LE coverage. After we went through the Y2K conversion, our programs are loaded with language environment calls. Section 3.13 is a listing only of what should have been a great amount of detail on using LE calls and intrinsic functions.

In defense of the author I did find an example of the function used with a date (on page 384) MOVE FUNCTION CURRENT-DATE (1:8) to WS-GREGORIAN which is close to our shop standard MOVE FUNCTION CURRENT-DATE (1:14) TO WS-DATE-TIME.

One valuable feature is the historical emphasis, which is usually lacking from such books, but is crucial for those who inherit existing networks. With state-of-the-art changing so rapidly, it's hard for even a veteran IT profesional to recall what were considered optimal solutions ten, five, or even a couple of years ago. Many network engineers working today are too young to remember what networks were like as recently as 1993. Also, the case studies show how theory can be applied successfully in real-world situations. Often, it's hard to visualize how a technical solution will work in a particular environment; by including a variety of case studies, solutions can be made apparent to readers from diverse backgrounds.

"Integrating TCP/IP i-nets with IBM Data Centers" is an absolute must-read for network administrators, data communications managers, and chief information officers in organizations with IBM mainframe or midrange SNA hosts. Guruge is an expert on IBM's System Network Architecture, which, although a quarter century old, holds most of the data of the world's largest organizations. Guruge explains both in technical detail and with real-life case studies how organizations can take advantage of TCP/IP, the lingua franca of the Internet, to facilitate communications with and among SNA devices. If you speak the language of SNA networking, like 3270/5250,DLSw, APPN/HPR and are trying to do so in the same sentence with terms like HTML, Telnet, and screen rejuvenation, this is the book you must read. Mr. Guruge will not only explain how these technologies relate to one another, but he will provide examples of how organizations have married these technologies to meet specific organizational and business requirements. And by the time you finish the book you'll have a firm understanding of how your own organization can integrate its IBM data center with TCP/IP i-nets.

The book is very comprehensive, giving full coverage of all the information necessary to understand the implications and considerations that must followed in order to integrate IBM data centers with Internet technology. It provides an excellent explanation of the various Network, Gateway and management options that are available and their pros and cons. It is also very informative and thorough analysis of old vs. the latest groundbreaking technology available as well as a prognosis for future market winners and losers based upon valid market analysis.

It deals in depth with many concerns IS mangers typically have, including bandwidth and other performance issues related to various network types/configurations when it comes to "integrating the data center with i*nets".

I was especially glad to see his view on various vendors' e-business products or tie-ins and how these apply to applet, SNA-to-HTML conversion and programmatic access. Of course, in mentioning e-business, security is the number one concern that is raised by any reader, and was addressed in full with logical commentary/opinion as to what security methods are available and when/where to use them.

Extensive use of case studies to offer real-life examples of the technologies and how and why they were implemented for a given company's needs, adds further value by underlining the fact that the product/technology chosen is dependant upon each company's specific network and user requirements.

This book is a "must read" for any company IS manager considering a move to Web-to-Host technologies. The book focuses on the emerging Web-based host access trend and choosing the right solution for a given project.

This book proves that there are no excuses for NOT integrating IBM data centers to the Internet or Intranets. Security concerns, time to develop, cost, bandwidth - all these issues are addressed in the book and proven to be non-issues. From my experience the most difficult part in such an integration project is to integrate two teams or camps - the PC programmers, that don't want to hear about JCL and LUs with mainframe programmers and VTAM gurus that don't care about using the mouse (the arrow keys work just fine, thank you). Typically, there is an alphabet soup of acronyms that each camp is referring to mostly to keep outsiders out - SSCP, LU, PU, CICS, IMS and such on one side with TCP/IP, SSL,HTTP, etc. on the other side.

The book does a great job in explaining all the concepts involved in the mainframe/midrange network architecture, as well as explaining the TCP/IP based internet technologies

A multitude of charts are used to illustrate the underlying architecture and the protocols involved in gluing all the pieces together.

The author gives an overview of the evolution in networking software and hardware that has taken place in the last 30 years.

Real-life test cases are provided to prove that integrating IBM data centers to TCP/IP networks is not only possible, but does not require huge investments in either time or money. The reader should conclude after reading this book, that "Hey, it has been done before and nobody got fired".

Acknowledging the impact of Y2K on the scarcity of the enterprise IT resources, Guruge is describing solutions that do not require ANY changes to the legacy applications. All the integration work is done around them, with results ranging from immediate out-of-the-box, to ones that may take a few weeks to accomplish.

It goes without saying that the book is well indexed, with a proper glossary and can serve as a reference resource.

All in all a great book worth its weight in gold.

"Integrating TCP/IP i-nets with IBM Data Centers" is an absolute must-read for network administrators, data communications managers, and chief information officers in organizations with IBM mainframe or midrange SNA hosts. Guruge is an expert on IBM's System Network Architecture, which, although a quarter century old, holds most of the data of the world's largest organizations. Guruge explains both in technical detail and with real-life case studies how organizations can take advantage of TCP/IP, the lingua franca of the Internet, to facilitate communications with and among SNA devices. If you speak the language of SNA networking, like 3270/5250,DLSw, APPN/HPR and are trying to do so in the same sentence with terms like HTML, Telnet, and screen rejuvenation, this is the book you must read. Mr. Guruge will not only explain how these technologies relate to one another, but he will provide examples of how organizations have married these technologies to meet specific organizational and business requirements. And by the time you finish the book you'll have a firm understanding of how your own organization can integrate its IBM data center with TCP/IP i-nets.

Having programmed the AS/400 since its inception, I thought I knew everything about the DB2/400 database. But Conte's insightful volume reveals new possibilities and capabilities.

Filled with a perfect mix of theory and hands-on examples, this book allows a reader of any level of experience to benefit from the author's many years of expertise. Conte is a stickler for professionalism and attention to detail, and "Database Design And Programming For DB2/400" not only typifies his love of excellence, but encourages the reader to raise his or her own personal expectations.

If you're a manager, buy every programmer a copy and make it mandatory reading. If you're a programmer who wants to be the best, you must have this book; my copy rests at arm's length on my desk. If you're an educator, this would make an ideal textbook.

This is the best work on the subject available today. Paul obviously put his heart, soul and considerable talent into this book. It's hard to believe that a book so filled with useful information is available at the rather low price of $75. ----small errata---- There's an error on page 410, 2nd paragraph. The sentence which starts out "Although the SQL precompiler requires Declare Cursor statements to be coded in the procedureal part of a program..." is not true for Cobol. Cobol allows you to put Declare Cursor in the Working-Storage Section as well.

It has become my daily Bible in my job as an AS/400 DBA. Even after reading the whole book last winter, I still seem to read a passage from it everytime I need inspiration on doing something new or different (or that I can't remember how it is done) with DB2/400.

I am looking to modernize our AS/400 database development with the latest modeling tools and functions without disrupting the traditional DDS-centric RPG development efforts of my programmer customers. I serve customers in dozens of countries with varying levels of SQL/400 knowledge, but being an ex-mainframe DBA, I appreciate the effort IBM has placed into DB2/400 (or "DB2 for AS/400") into giving it mainframe-DB2-like capabilities. I am hoping Paul Conte will come up with a new edition of this book for OS/400 V4.3 because I would love to see these issues addressed in the same manner that DB2/400 V3.6 is presented in this book. Maybe even a chapter devoted to interoperability issues between DDS and SQL/400 and why/how to make the migration would be splendid.

I wish I had this book as soon as it was published. After programming on the S/38 and the AS/400 (in RPG) for over 14 years now (with some interruptions), I consider this one the best AS/400-related computing book I have purchased - ever! And compared to other computer books, well, if only that kind of quality would be available on other topics as well more frequently, either DBMS's or programming languages. The book saved one of my clients hours of work: with no previous SQL knowledge but having this book they were able to do some work with SQL that otherwise would have required them to write a program. Another client (and myself for my own system) took advantage of the chapters on Referential Integrity. If you're serious about accessing your data on your DB2/400 database, you owe it to yourself to buy this book !

this is the best book for the beginning to intermediate level system professionals. easy to read, and systematic. i particularly enjoyed the chapter on the history of AS/400, which i can rarely get from any other publications.

For someone that cut their teeth on PC's, this book is a must before working on the AS/400.

lots of working programs which i can apply into practice immediately. very useful book.

This book is helpful for beginers and advanced programmer

This book was definitely an effective tool in helping me learn and implement CL into my development techniques. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn CL or just wants a good reference book on hand

Being new to the AS/400, I ordered this book to learn about AS/400 CLP. This is an excellent, one or two semester college-level course on AS/400 Control Language Programming. Get off by yourself and go through this book chapter by chapter, doing the exercises, and by the time you are finished, you will feel confident about your ability to do CL programming! Excellent reference book also!

This book is written in an easy to read and understand format. A good refresher for anyone that needs it and will serve as a good future reference book. Very good simple examples.

The collaboration of COBOL experts Mike Murach, Anne Prince, and Raul Menendez, Murach's Mainframe COBOL is a tutorial, guide, and reference especially for anyone charged with developing or maintaining COBOL programs. Explicit examples and sample code spell out COBOL syntax in the clearest possible terms, and much of Murach's Mainframe COBOL is divided into individual sections that teach the reader how to complete any given specific task, such as "how to code select statements and FD statements" or "how to join data from two or more tables". An easy-to-follow guide for anyone learning the ins and outs of COBOL.

As a longtime mainframe programmer I have used Murach books for the times when I need a quick reminder of what COBOL statement to use and how to use it. Mike Murach has recently published a new "Mainframe COBOL" book. The Murach books feature a paired page format that has statement syntax and notes on the right hand page and detailed descriptions on the left hand page. With this format the book is useful for both the "seasoned" programmer and the newbie just getting started in writing structured COBOL programs. A new COBOL programmer can get good detailed instruction on how a structured program is designed coded and tested, the veteran can quickly access information on statement syntax and usage.

This book differs from Murach's "Structured COBOL" offering in that it has no mention of Personal or PC COBOL platforms. Those references have been replaced by chapter (17.) describing mainframe architecture, input/output devices, basic mainframe operating system features and IBM mainframe OS' that are currently used. Another new chapter (19.) gives a brief basic introduction in (AMS) Access Method Services necessary for working with VSAM files.

All in all, this book should be a good starting point for the mainframe COBOL programmer looking for a solid reference for writing batch programs. Programmers needing instruction or reference for CICS and DB2 application development should read the (also brief and basic) chapters on those subjects and then seriously consider investing in Murach's "CICS for the COBOL Programmer" and excellent "CICS Desk Reference" along with their two DB2 manuals. They also have a solid VSAM manual.

I read this book in the bus in my way to work and just this reading gave me every thing I need to know as a developer. Topics covered are programming, interface with CICS, create db2 objects, understanding Explain.
Thanks to the authers

I feel that Mr. Ranade has done a great job by writing such a reader friendly book but i feel that a topic that needs a little bit more evaluation is the Field proc and the edit proc and how they can be applied on a table so that it facilitates the sorting of data according tothe user needs.