Boss talk

What he says: "How is it going?"
What he means: "Why aren't you finished yet?"

What he says: "This is a challenging task."
What he means: "I don't know how to do it either."

Artifacts

I have to fight to suppress a smile whenever I hear people talk about the "artifacts" that have to be produced as part of any modern systems development methodology.  As far as I can tell, the term "artifact" has replaced the more descriptive "deliverable", but that's not what I find amusing.

To me the word "artifact" has always meant something like: "An man-made object of historical or scientific value that has no practical use."  Or, in another sense, "data corruption produced by an error in the process that measures the data".  To those of us in the trenches who are required to create "artifacts" in addition to executable code, both of these definitions seem apt.

Ergonomic impact of full screen debugging tools

Speaking of RDz, as I was in my last post, full screen debugging tools can have an unexpected ergonomic impact, at least on my decrepit old frame.

When writing code, launching and monitoring batch jobs, or testing an online screen the old fashioned way, I tend to sit back in my chair in a fairly relaxed posture.  Debugging interactively, whether using RDz or another tool, tends to change that.  I lean forward in my chair intently focused on the screen in front of me as I watch the code execute.    I feel poised, ready to pounce when the next breakpoint comes up or when the execution flow appears to go awry.

All this is good fun (I love debugging), but it gets physically wearisome when you do it continuously for 8 hours or so.

Cruelty to Mainframers

Was IBM deliberately cruel to us old mainframers when they designed RDz?  Why else would they assign F8 to "Run until next breakpoint"?  I cannot tell you how many RDz debugging sessions I've ruined by hitting F8 in the source window when all I meant to do was scroll down. 

Social media inside the company firewall

After the first kneejerk reaction to ban social media sites from the workplace, companies are now beginning to explore ways to exploit them.  In some quarters social media are touted as a way to spur productivity by encouraging employees to share ideas.

I have a few concerns about this trend.

1.  It is based on the perhaps dubious assumption that 1000 average people are wiser than one wise man.
2.  In any group collaboration only a few voices will be heard.  Ask anyone who's been on a committee and they will tell you that a vocal minority tends to dominate.
3.  The Man is watching.  Will people be willing to put forward unconventional ideas knowing that the Boss is watching?  No one wants to look stupid, so the less confident individuals will hold their peace.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I live in Canada, and I have a question for my fellow Canadians. With people all over the world dying in the streets for the right to vote why do less than 60% of us bother to show up at the polls?  The numbers are truly dismaying.


Honour their sacrifice by voting on May 2.  It's more than a right, it's a duty.  

Down with periods!

I still see recently written Cobol programs where the author uses a period after virtually every Procedure Division statement.  


I find this puzzling.  


The introduction of END-IF over 20 years ago has made periods unnecessary in the Procedure Division except for the end of a paragraph and paragraph names.  When maintaining a period-infested program I like to remove all unnecessary periods in the paragraph I am working on.  If I have time, I change the necessary periods to END-IF and NEXT SENTENCE to CONTINUE.  If you are careful, there is very little risk in doing this, and you will leave the program a little better than you found it.  Make it Right!

Rant: Cobol line numbers

Why on God's green earth do so many programmers continue to use sequence numbers in their Cobol programs?

Come on guys, when was the last time you even saw a card deck, never mind dropped one?

Ditto for the numbers in columns 73-80.  If you have a source management system, you don't need to use these numbers to track changes, the source manager will do it for you.  If you don't have a source management system, a source comparison tool (SUPERC works just fine, and it's free with ISPF) will tell you all you need to know.

Modern banking

I was in the car with my son when he reminded me that he needed some money for school. With a theatrical flourish I whipped out my Blackberry and transferred the funds right on the spot using my bank's app. (Don't worry, he was the one driving).

He was suitably impressed. So am I... when I started my career you had to plan your whole day around getting to the bank before the branch closed. We have indeed come a long way.

Mixed case on MFS screens

There is no reason why MFS literals cannot be in mixed case.  Try it.  You will be surprised at how much this small change improves a screen's readability.   Your users will see it as a more "modern" look and will sing your praises.

Handling mixed case data is another story, but using mixed case MFS literals is a no-brainer.  (You don't have to tell your users that part).

ISPF rants

Here is a list of a few of the things that bug me about working with ISPF on the mainframe:

1. People who haven't used a new ISPF feature since 3.4 came out.  Come on guys, it's been 20 years!
2. People who don't use Edit HILITE command.  Yes, green is a lovely colour, but it is surprising how much more productive you are when your source code is intelligently colour coded.  You'll never forget an END-IF again.
3. People who are still using 24x80 to do everything.  No wonder people think that the mainframe sucks!
4. Vendor panels that don't support large screen sizes.
5. People who use Extra!'s default colour scheme.  Yecchh!!
6. Companies that force you to use inferior emulators because that's the one they've always used.  There are many excellent and inexpensive emulators out there.  Vista 3270 for example.
7. People who don't know about the Edit COMPARE command and still do their code retrofits manually.
8. Systems programmers who fail to activate SITECMDS and USERCMDS.
9. Systems programmers who fail to include new products on the local panels.  I hate having to remember startup commands.
10. Panels with the command line at the bottom.
11. Dialog Tag Language.  A solution in search of a problem.
12. Local ISPF panels that point to obsolete products and functions.  
13. Non-modifiable KEYLISTs.  The "P" in PFK stands for "Programmable", dammit, so let me program my function keys!!
14. Missing HELP panels.  ISPF has a lot of very nice features to help the dialog developer create context-sensitive help dialogs.  Why aren't they used more often?
15. Panels that are all in CAPITALS.  Why do so many panels SHOUT at me?
16. People who don't know how to use the HELP key.
17. Dialog programmers who don't know how to use the MODEL command.

5 more ways to start a war on a mainframe forum

1. Say something positive about Windows.
2. Declare that the 'frame is dead and squatty boxen rule.  Don't forget the "boxen" part.
3. Opine that RAS is overrated; the future belongs to Wintel because it's cheaper.
4. Brag about how long you've been in the computer business.  Even if you worked on ENIAC someone will claim to have worked with Ada and Babbage.
5. Mention Hercules. 

5 ways to start a war on a mainframe forum

Attack of the turbines

This is the funniest cartoon I have seen in a while.

 This one's good too. (thanks Terry).

Too cool for the room?

Santa brought me an iPad for christmas. Does that make me one of the 'cool crowd'?

Not according to my eldest son: "Dad, it'll take a lot more than an iPad to do that".


Perhaps so, but I am having a lot of fun playing with my shiny new toy.  I've never owned a laptop (though  everyone else in the family has one) and until recently my smart phone wasn't very smart because I was too cheap to pay for a data plan.  I am a late-comer to the portable computing party.