How many decades have we had System Determined Blocksize, and other artifacts of SMS. These details are surely not anything than new folks need to deal with at the outset.
> -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On > Behalf Of David Crayford > Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 9:27 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: zOSMF and zOWE for non-mainframers > > On 27/2/23 06:46, Andrew Rowley wrote: > > On 25/02/2023 8:03 am, Bob Bridges wrote: > >> Oh, I was going to mention that surely allocating datasets, either in > >> batch or TSO, has got to seem like one of the dumbest and most > >> incomprehensible things we do on the mainframe, to a foreigner. > > > > Allocating datasets shouldn't be that hard to grasp. "Dataset" is > > actually a pretty common term and generally implies a collection of > > data with more structure than just a file. > > From what I've seen while working with younger individuals, they tend > to find the MVS file system quite perplexing. In order to navigate it, > one must first grasp the archaic concept of CKD disk geometry, including > blocks, cylinders, blocking factors, and record formats, among other > things. And that's all before even introducing them to the intricacies > of VTOCs, catalogs, interblock gaps, spanned record formats etc. > > > > > If people have worked with databases, presumably they have encountered > > the concept of defining the schema. > > > > A dataset is simply a collections of records (similar to a database > > table) where each record has a fixed length or limited variable length > > and the total collection has a size limit. Any structure within the > > records is up to the application. This is not an unusual construct. > > > > What is unusual is that z/OS uses such a structured format for almost > > everything, not that it exists. > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
