Hi Folks,
I just want to tell you that I very much appreciate this
discussion. Very much depends on POINT OF VIEW, and when all the points
of view get together, real progress is made, and everybody becomes wiser.
There are at least three separate points of view here on this forum:
1. The systems programmers who have to set up and run the system
software in data centers.
2. The professional "system level" programmers who usually work for
vendors.
3. The IBM programmers who design and build the system software.
There may be other people here also, such as application
programmers and "programmer toolmakers" and more types, as well.
Everybody has a separate point of view. In summary, here they are:
People who run data centers, have to make sure everything run
smoothly, and they have to deal with "the problems of the non-ideal
world". Something breaks--fix it. Keep the system up. Make sure the
system levels are correctly set for what we are doing, and for what we need.
Professional "system level" programmers dig deep into the system.
"Authority" is not what is usually on their mind, unless they are
dealing with a security-related product. For example, doing
cross-memory programming is usually "a piece of cake" for them. But
changing some fields in another user's control blocks, which might be
easy for THEM to do, is a nightmare from the system administrator's
point of view, so you already see a difference in point of view between
these two groups.
Finally, the IBM designers and programmers have a big
responsibility of delivering a consistent and reliable system, but they
may tend (depending on the individual person's actual experience) to be
a bit separated from the system programmer's "real world" problems, and
the things that actually come up in a real data center, day by day.
I am glad that my post is bringing these 3 points of view together,
in a productive and fruitful way. If I did not write about this topic,
then some sysprog might be without a necessary tool in his/her toolbox.
When the emergency came up, they would be as helpless as I was, many
years ago. On the other hand, we know that the tool can be used
improperly, either by the right people or the wrong people. So I had a
quandary: "To say, or NOT to say. That was the question."
I opted to "say". I remember the pain in my heart, when JES2
couldn't be removed, and we had to IPL in the middle of the day. It was
easy to fix if we could just cancel JES2, and restart it. I had already
proven that to myself, at that time. But I was helpless and adrift. We
had to IPL. NEVER AGAIN! I won't let that happen to someone! NEVER....!!!
So there. I trust we've all been helpful.......
All the best of everything to everyone.
Sincerely, Sam
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