On 8/22/2011 2:29 PM, John Walker wrote:
In regards to the comments about IBM assembler manuals: The biggest issue for me is that NONE of their manuals in pdf or tso datasets have any easy connectivity.
You mean to each other? I'm not sure what 'connectivity' means in this context.
I am sorry, but I don't know the answer to the following question: Do I look it up in POOP or in Language Reference? AND that is crucial to know. NOT knowing where to look I always have to look through x number of manuals. And by-the-way, it might not even be in an Assembler manual. It might be in a totally unrelated manual. So THEN, I have to go look through ALL IBM manuals on the face of the planet. PLEASE. That's just wrong and it wastes your valuable time. You know how I avoid that? I keep everything I want to know, regardless of what it's about in ONE flat file on the mainframe. I keep a consistent naming convention for each 'how to' entry and so GENERALLY I know how to find the info I'm looking for. Table of contents? It's nice, but my next question would be then, 'which chapter do I look in?'. I don't know which chapter something is in sometimes(or most of the time), so here we go again. Looking through all of the TOC entries in this book, then this one, then this one... Again, that's not good. Yes, some of you know how and where to look. I don't, and I never have in IBM manuals. And yet, with the way I keep notes, I can ALWAYS find what I need. More importantly, for anybody except experts, it's a technique which would be best for EVERYONE(unless you have a preferrence to take longer finding something). So, my goal would be to get IBM to implement one file for anything which has an Assembler related datum in it. Then provide a simple, non-techie-cized search algorithm to find things. Keep it up-to-date everytime there is any new procedure, instruction, or problem found with an Assembler instruction or a procedure implemented in Assembler.
Get a grip man! It's not that hard: * If your question is hardware instruction related, it's the PoO * If your question is about Assembling, limits of the Assembler, and Assembler statements, it's the Language Reference * If your question is about files, it's in one of two docs: + Using Data Sets - narratives + Macro Instructions for Data Sets - macro syntax * If you want to know about a service, then: + MVS Assembler Services Guide - narratives + MVS Assembler Services Reference (2 volumes) - macro syntax * If it's how to bind (a.k.a. link edit), look in MVS Program Management The important thing is to frame your question clearly to begin with.
BTW, yes I know about IBMIN.
?? Don't know what that is.
It's ok for looking for some things, but it has significant irrelevancy in what searches done on it finds.
If you say so. I still say the important thing is to think clearly before you start floundering around in the manuals. -- Kind regards, -Steve Comstock The Trainer's Friend, Inc. 303-393-8716 http://www.trainersfriend.com * Special promotion: 15% off on all DB2 training classes scheduled by September 1, taught by year end 2011 * Check out our entire DB2 curriculum at: http://www.trainersfriend.com/DB2_and_VSAM_courses/DB2curric.htm
