RE: Recommendations for a newcomer?

Been out of the loop working on a major project (state says we didn't file
reports; what reports?) so been trying to catch up this week. I thought I
heard my name called.

The last time I used a 3741/42 was on a S/3 (Mod 8?). When I converted them
to a S/34 (1980), it was easier to keep keying data to diskette and then use
the 34's Transfer procedure to load it. Quicker than even writing DFU entry
panels.

At that same place I had to modify a mammoth (2k+ lines) Cobol program on
the S/3. I had to download the source to a diskette and then insert blank
records. That took quite awhile, let me tell you. Plus, as I recall, there
were only so many records one could insert and, since I had a lot to add, I
had to save the source to the /3, then re-download it and insert more
records. What made this so hard (besides taking forever) was that the idiot
(and I'm being kind) wrote it like The Great American Novel; i.e., a period
(.) terminates a statement in Cobol and most people (i.e., everyone else in
the world) start the next statement on a new line - not this guy. Geez!

The 3741 was pretty good as a data entry device. Primarily because it meant
no more dropped card decks (been there, done that). Plus, of course, the
diskette, unlike a card deck, was re-useable. You could program it as
either an input file (the primary usage, of course) or as an output.

Jerry C. Adams
IBM i Programmer/Analyst
Everything that can be invented, has been invented. -Charles Duell, U.S.
Patent Office Director (1899)