Michael--
Back In The Days when IBM issued paper manuals for the S/38, I used
to love inserting the updated pages. It gave me a chance to read the
parts with the 'vertical bar' next to the text, so I could keep track
of the changes.
Since then, the system has expanded in so many directions that IBM
stopped sending out the paper manuals (not to mention the binders
they lived in), and it became a lot harder to keep up with all the
enhancements and changes.
I've often felt that people just starting out with this machine have
a whole lot of stuff to learn-- Consider what it takes to turn the
system on, key in a program, compile the program, and run the
program! "Hello, World" takes an awful lot of system preparation to
run!
Therefore, I think there either need to be sections of the book for
certain users, or a set of books depending on the user!
Consider getting that "Hello, World" on the screen-- you need to IPL
the system. That implies that subsystems exist, along with job
queues, output queues, user profiles, and the whole set of 'work
management' items-- classes, jobds, etc. Then you need some way of
getting the program from the user to the system-- STRPDM is
simplest, but the 'official' way of using the PC-based development
environment may be better... but for someone just starting out,
understanding queues, subsystems, and profiles is a big lump to
swallow.
Using IBM's 'default' subsystems is a quick way to skip a lot of the
setup complexity.
Then there's programming-- what language(s)? CLP of course. RPG#.
Then you need DDS or SQL to create files. SQL will suffice for data
files, but DDS is still required for display files (isn't it?).
Then there're all the pieces of TCP/IP and getting the system to
communicate with the outside world (and those PC workstations) in the
first place.
And what web development tools to use? WebSphere ($$), WebQuery
($$), HATS, etc. etc. There's a LOT of learning here!
I think your first job needs to be discovering who is in your audience!
--Paul E Musselman
PaulMmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At 10:19 PM -0400 4/12/09, Michael Ryan wrote (in part):
What would be the intended audience in the current state of the
industry? What topics should be covered? How 'in depth' should the book be?
I would be interested in any replies.
midrange.com
