On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 8:19 AM, Jon Butler <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'd like to state that even after 30 years of MVS, I still use the term > "file" when referring to mainframe datasets. In fact, if you look at the > IBM COBOL manual, you will see "File Organization", not "Dataset > Organization"; PL/I refers to "FILE Attributes", etc. And I think I can > safely say I have never seen a DD NULLDATASET command ;-)) > > Don't be too hard on people just trying to learn. > > I agree. But I will also mention that just using the word "file" can now be confusing due to the addition of UNIX into z/OS. Of course, if somebody says "PS file", then that __most likely__ really means "PS data set". But in some other contexts, just using "file" could be confusing. For example an "flat file" _might_ be a PS data set. But, then again, it could just as easily be a textual data stream delimited by NEL (0x15) bytes residing in a UNIX environment (UNIX file). And, just to mention COBOL, in the manual "line sequential" means the latter. A "line sequential file" in COBOL parlance does _NOT_ refer to a PS data set at all. -- While a transcendent vocabulary is laudable, one must be eternally careful so that the calculated objective of communication does not become ensconced in obscurity. In other words, eschew obfuscation. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 Maranatha! <>< John McKown ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
