Re: Fast and Safe C Strings: User friendly C macros to Declare and use C Strings.

[Shmuel Metz (Seymour J.)]

In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, on 04/13/2007
   at 03:11 PM, Clem Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>Some 20 years ago, it became clear that C strings were not as safe,
>nor as fast, as strings in PL/I,  Assembler or Pascal.

The same applies to C arrays in general. The confusion between arrays
and pointers, and the lack of bounds checking, appalled me three
decades ago, and everything that I have seen since has confirmed my
original judgment.
 
-- 
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Re: EOV detection on tape volume

[Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz]

In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, on 04/12/2007
   at 06:07 PM, Charles Mills <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>Does anyone know if EOV breaks a CCW chain?

Yes, but I suspect that the answer is different for more modern tape
drives.

>Does I/O error recovery have to re-issue the EXCP for the 
>last three blocks, presumably on the new volume?

I wouldn't make such an assumption without examining the code.

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 Atid/2
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Re: Extract listing of production datasets

[Shmuel Metz (Seymour J.)]

In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, on 04/11/2007
   at 04:39 PM, Robert Fake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>I have a need to generate a listing of all production datasets.  The
>way the production datasets are identified is via the 4th byte of the
>high level qualifier.  If the 4th byte is a P, it is production.

Are you licensed for FDR? FDREPORT should do what you want.
 
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Re: IBM to the PCM market(the sky is falling!!!the sky is falling!!)

[Shmuel Metz (Seymour J.)]

In
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
on 04/06/2007
   at 03:38 PM, Timothy Sipples <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>Duty?  I'm just a guy with ibm.com in my e-mail address.  Nothing in
>my job description requires me to hang out here. 

The duty in question is the one that you assigned to yourself: "Myth
buster reporting for duty." Having taken on that duty unasked, you
owed it to us to discharge it honestly.

>But external storage is a lot lower priced now.

How much lower? What is the cost for a Z9 BC equivalent to that
$170,000 MP3000 H30, including environmentals, peripheral equipment
and software charges? Also, weren't there less expensive models than
the H30?

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 ISO position; see  
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Re: Effects of Linux on z...ISV support and z/OS (Was: IBM to the PCM market)

[Shmuel Metz (Seymour J.)]

In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, on 04/11/2007
   at 06:42 AM, Steve Comstock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>I'm not sure I follow you there, Shmuel. If an installation writes
>their own applications (not so much today as in the past, due to
>pre-packaged off-the-shelf apps), that's user-supplied code. Or
do you mean "user" in the end-user kind of interpretation?

End user.

>Ah, wait. do you mean, for example, macros in Word documents?

That's the classic example, but there are many others. M$ seems to be
in love with the concept of active documents and never takes security
into account when they extend a format to include executable content.

BTW, if you do some research into this area it might be the basis for
a useful course. Assuming, of course, that the people who need it most
are aware of the fact.

-- 
 Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT
 ISO position; see  
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Re: The Sky is indeed Falling

[Steve Comstock]

Phil Payne wrote:

Forget PSI.  Forget Fundamental. And forget PWD.

It's about zSeries End of Life, and how to control the collapse.


That's the most chilling work-related statement I've
seen in almost 40 years working in mainframes.

Are you really saying end of life for z/OS and z/VSE?
Because I see IBM continuing support of zSeries in the
forms of z/VM and Linux.

Kind regards,

--
-Steve Comstock
The Trainer's Friend, Inc.

303-393-8716
http://www.trainersfriend.com

** Spring Promotion **
10% - 15% off for classes booked by April 30, 2007
  to be taught by September 30, 2007
Call or email for details.
** Spring Promotion **



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Re: The Sky is indeed Falling

[Tom Moulder]

Steve

I agree with Phil's assessment and have for the last six months.  It's not
about making "z" last forever; it's about getting all you can out of a
platform before the end of its life (meaning that the end is already
conceded).

I was not one of the OS/2 bigots during its time, but I wonder how they felt
when IBM capitulated and Windoze became the de facto standard in PC
Operating systems?  I have much more empathy for them now than I ever had at
the time.

If you don't stand for something; you'll fall for anything.  So it is
appropriate that Phil states, "The sky is falling".  Sorry for really mixing
up trite phrases, it just seemed ironic early on Sunday morning.

Tom Moulder


-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Steve Comstock
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 8:16 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: The Sky is indeed Falling

Phil Payne wrote:
> Forget PSI.  Forget Fundamental. And forget PWD.
> 
> It's about zSeries End of Life, and how to control the collapse.

That's the most chilling work-related statement I've
seen in almost 40 years working in mainframes.

Are you really saying end of life for z/OS and z/VSE?
Because I see IBM continuing support of zSeries in the
forms of z/VM and Linux.

Kind regards,

-- 
-Steve Comstock
The Trainer's Friend, Inc.

303-393-8716
http://www.trainersfriend.com


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Re: The Sky is indeed Falling

[Warner Mach]

Phi Payne wrote:

Forget PSI.  Forget Fundamental. And forget PWD
It's about zSeries End of Life, and how to control the collapse.

The best hope is that IBM executives will fail in their misguided
efforts. They will lose the suit and will be forced to continue to
support the mainframe  After all, they have been trying for
years (off and on) to get rid of VSE and VM.

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Re: The Sky is indeed Falling

[Ed Finnell]

 
In a message dated 4/15/2007 8:54:31 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

They  will lose the suit and will be forced to continue to
support the mainframe   After all, they have been trying for
years (off and on) to get rid of  VSE and VM.



>>
Guess my dark side kinda wanted it to drag out for a while so we could  get 
the source for z/OS and Project Eclipz on the table. Then the real fireworks  
begin 



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Re: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are features, not bugs!

[Robert Justice]

- Original Message - 
From: "McKown, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 4:53 PM
Subject: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are features, 
not bugs!




http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&;
articleId=9016401&pageNumber=1


The Word 2007 bugs pegged as security vulnerabilities by an Israeli
researcher are nothing of the sort, Microsoft Corp. said today. Instead,
the application crashes reported as flaws are actually by design.




and some people wonder why I call microsoft the tinker toy platform.

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Re: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are features, not bugs!

[McKown, John]

> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Justice
> Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 12:12 PM
> To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application 
> crashes are features, not bugs!
> 
> 
> - Original Message - 
> From: "McKown, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main
> To: 
> Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 4:53 PM
> Subject: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application 
> crashes are features, 
> not bugs!
> 
> 
> > 
> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArt
icleBasic&
> articleId=9016401&pageNumber=1
>
> 
> The Word 2007 bugs pegged as security vulnerabilities by an Israeli
> researcher are nothing of the sort, Microsoft Corp. said today.
Instead,
> the application crashes reported as flaws are actually by design.
> 
>

I'm gonna hafta fess up. I have a subroutine which does deliberately
abend with a S0C3 upon detecting bad input data. My only defense is that
the routine was not originally written by me, did not have a way to
return a "bad input" indication, and was previously causing storage
overlays in unrelated areas (in CICS). I felt that an S0C3 (or ASRA)
abend in this instance was superior to possibly crashing an "innocent"
transaction or perhaps even CICS itself.

However, if I had control of the calling routines as well, then I would
have issued an return code so that the caller could issue a meaningful
error message. I just didn't have that option.

--
John McKown
Senior Systems Programmer
HealthMarkets
Keeping the Promise of Affordable Coverage
Administrative Services Group
Information Technology

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Instant CBTTAPE (was: Tapecopy ...)

[Paul Gilmartin]

In a recent note, Bruce Hewson said:

> Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:13:21 -0500
> 
> Already mentoined are the tape copy utilities, whose source can be found on
> File 229 at www.cbttape.org
> 
> The programs are also found in the load library at File 35.
> 
Thanks; I hadn't spotted File 35.

> //*   results you want.  If you can't do some job in*   FILE 
> 229
> //*   tape copying that you want to do, please contact  *   FILE 
> 229
> //*   me, and I'll see if we can add a feature.  Thanks *   FILE 
> 229
> //*   in advance.  (S.G.)   *   FILE 
> 229
> //* *   FILE 
> 229
> 
Ooooh!  You shouldn't entice me.  (But I'm actually nicer in proportion
as the price is nicer.)

Is there a conventional way to fetch a CBTTAPE file in a single command?
I put together a Rexx EXEC for this purpose.  It involves:

   snarf ...

piped into gunzip ...

piped into TSO RECEIVE.

I had known that gunzip handles rudimmentary .zip files; I was pleased that
it works on the CBTTAPE archives I tried.  I was astonished and delighted
that TSO RECEIVE can use INDD allocated to a z/OS Unix pipe.  RECEIVE,
of course allocates the target data set with suitable attributes and space.

It all works with no temporary file storage, but could fail inexplicably if
the z/OS Unix pipe buffer size (131K) is exceeded by the combined terminal
outputs of snarf and gunzip.  Safety factor of several hundred.

Alas, my CBTTAPE EXEC doesn't work on z/OS Unix; RECEIVE insists on prompting,
and PROMPT(), QUEUE, and DROPBUF don't play with RECEIVE in the Unix 
environment.
Is there any way in command options to tell RECEIVE to issue no prompts 
whatever?

Of course, I spent more time on this than I'll ever save by not issuing 
individual
commands to download from CBTTAPE.org.  But it's the hacker's way; it was
educational; and I refined some of my z/OS Unix Rexx cliches.

-- gil
-- 
StorageTek
INFORMATION made POWERFUL

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Re: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are features, not bugs!

[Frank I Rosenzweig]

My recollection is that Tinker Toys worked!






Robert Justice <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
Sent by: IBM Mainframe Discussion List 
04/15/2007 01:11 PM
Please respond to
IBM Mainframe Discussion List 


To
IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU
cc

Subject
Re: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are features, 
not bugs!






- Original Message - 
From: "McKown, John" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main
To: 
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 4:53 PM
Subject: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are 
features, 
not bugs!


> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&;
> articleId=9016401&pageNumber=1
>
> 
> The Word 2007 bugs pegged as security vulnerabilities by an Israeli
> researcher are nothing of the sort, Microsoft Corp. said today. Instead,
> the application crashes reported as flaws are actually by design.
> 
>

and some people wonder why I call microsoft the tinker toy platform.

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Re: Laugh, laugh. I thought I'd die - application crashes are features, not b...

[(IBM Mainframe Discussion List)]

 
 
In a message dated 4/15/2007 3:55:57 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>My recollection is that Tinker Toys worked!
 
Small constructions based on Tinkertoy pieces worked quite well.   There is a 
very large "computer" built entirely out of wooden Tinkertoy parts on  
display in the lobby of the Museum of Science in Boston.  I don't recall  what 
problem this computer solved, but it did work once and was immediately  retired 
due 
to its fragility.  Perhaps this monstrosity is a better analogy  of 
Microsoft's operating system than Tinkertoy in general.  Rube Goldberg  would 
be very 
proud of it.  Wikipedia also mentions a tic-tac-toe playing  computer and a 
robot made from Tinkertoy.
 
Bill  Fairchild





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