All, For documentation to be useful, the information in it has to be findable.
Creating good structure and properly indexing and cross-referencing all information in any sizeable library is a daunting task. I am currently upgrading the documentation for our team's product. Using AI (here we go again) helps, although results are still tentative. I mean, the jury is still out, but it looks like it will help reduce the task from 'Herculean' to 'manageable'. I hope it will. Software without documentation is as useful as gasoline without a car. Kind regards & Happy programming! Abe === On 16/10/2025 00:16, Phil Smith III wrote: > That's an excellent point! "Documentation? What documentation??" My wife > bought a neck massager that has an 18-page manual, and I was astounded that > it was that long in this modren day and age. > > The shift from "Here's the IBM doc library for <x>" to "Just Google it" has > also led to reduced focus on structuring the documentation library, I fear. > That's surely not fixable: doc is seen as a pure cost, I think. IBM is not > going to rehire the legions of Information Developers that used to exist. > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > Lennie Bradshaw > Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2025 2:06 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Newer SYSPROGs (was Re: Political topics) > > Sadly, much software on other platforms today has far less documentation. > This leads to low expectations that an answer might be found. Instead, > answers are found in forums. Perhaps we need to emphasise that IBM mainframe > systems manuals are rather more comprehensive and can be used as a first > source of information. > > Lennie > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > David Purdy > Sent: 15 October 2025 18:25 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Newer SYSPROGs (was Re: Political topics) > > Our first response to a question is;What did the manual say? > Our second response is:Don't use ChatGPT > On Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 12:59:09 PM EDT, Jousma, David > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Changed the subject to keep Darren’s feathers down… > > As entrenched system programmers most of us are from decades of experience, > we really need to take a softer tone that some here have mentioned. First > off, let’s not scare away newbies from the platform, but sometimes just a > pointer to which manual they can go looking at is all that is needed. > > My mentor used to ask me what I was looking at that I didn’t understand. And > if I replied that I hadn’t looked, well then he pointed me to the manual. > For me, I’ve learned more about everything else by searching the manual for > what I really wanted. After awhile it all starts to fit together. > > > > > _______________________________ > > Dave Jousma > > Vice President | Director, Technology Engineering > > Fifth Third Bank | 1830 East Paris Ave, SE | Grand Rapids, MI 49546 > > > > > > > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of > Seymour J Metz <[email protected]> > Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 12:44 PM > To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Political topics > > CAUTION EXTERNAL EMAIL > This message came from outside your organization. > DO NOT open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected > emails. > Report > Suspicious<https://us-phishalarm-ewt.proofpoint.com/EWT/v1/MwwqYLOC6b6whF7V!odOGFh_lgiBhHko4rfivV4VzOYlSakFScohREKt1lGITdYXTA3WpPdeyc3ve7qYrUUIMoYKt8dq79EP_rOs4II3PnV-64oPJWXSHVJdG0BRgyS3QNjll33pZ7KDU7U5tLInALgIXLoigtw$> > > > I used to phrase it as "Which part of the explanation is unclear"; maybe they > legit did RTFM and the information was ambiguous or flat wrong. > > Yes, that last does happen, and I can't reaonably expect a user to recognize > and deal with it. > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://mason.gmu.edu/*smetz3__;fg!!MwwqYLOC6b6whF7V!nnbo8essFOHBsvihlavRW_OmYqJjnXkV9_AJ2xi6-MtH1HpuaWh1ei55btIwI8zepSAALYak-AHutQ9P$ > עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי > נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר > > > > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of > Jay Maynard <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2025 9:34 AM > To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Political topics > > > External Message: Use Caution > > > I try hard to always say which FM and where the information is in it when > saying RTFM. > > On Wed, Oct 15, 2025 at 8:06 AM Seymour J Metz <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Always verify that the relevant information is in TFM before saying RTFM. >> In fact, verify that it is not hidden away. >> > -- > Jay Maynard > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to > [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to > [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > > > This e-mail transmission contains information that is confidential and may be > privileged. 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