John,
Interesting point. The programmer is clearly off base. I would ask if
you would A. Just have the system ignore it (which it does) and not
give a message or B. JCL the job.
Long ago and far away I wrote code to comment out any jobcat/
stepcat. Since we had standards not to allow it the programmers
could not use it (I had a secret work around that changed everyday).
Now that IBM officially doesn't allow it I thought I was happy to be
20+ years ahead in the curve.
Ed
On Jun 19, 2012, at 7:40 AM, McKown, John wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List
[mailto:IBM-MAIN@listserv.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 7:19 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@listserv.ua.edu
Subject: Re: IEBPTPCH questions
<snip>
Sure, it makes sense if one has learned of better techniques
elsewhere.
I get paid well for my meager JCL skills. The experience is
nonetheless
unpleasant. One can hate a shovel used to dig a trench when one
knows what could be done with a backhoe.
JCL is about 40 years old. The art has advanced much since then,
yet IBM provides no alternative with similar capability but greater
ease of use.
-- gil
To me, there is one major problem with a JCL replacement, if it
requires changing the control blocks created from the JCL. And it
is called "job restart software". That is, software such as CA-11
or RunTrac or ??? . The thought of doing without an automated
restart package simply frightens me. How much would it cost to
replace CA-11 with something __brand new and different__? And it
must be automated, not dependant on the JCL creators. I have enough
problems with JCL errors from some programmers. Perhaps I'm just
"lucky" that way.
As an example of trying to get programmers to do a minor change, at
another shop, we used CA-JCLCHECK. I made it flag accepted but
obsolete parameters, such as SEP=. The amount of screams from some
of the programmers was deafening. I literally got told by one "I've
been coding that for 25 g-d damn years and I'll be damned if I'm
going to stop now. Turn the <redacted> message off or I'll
<redacted> out your <redacted>."
What is the likelihood of a JCL replacement being accepted? Even if
it could increase productivity by 50%+? I've heard of JOL. How many
shops use it in production?
--
John McKown
Systems Engineer IV
IT
Administrative Services Group
HealthMarkets(r)
9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010
(817) 255-3225 phone *
john.mck...@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com
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