z/OS Training by Steve Comstock

In one way or another, I have always been a trainer, a teacher.

A few years ago I retired from my most recent training job, developing and teaching courses about IBM mainframe (z/OS) application programming.

Now I have put my course materials on Amazon.com.

Each course is represented by an ebook. This ebook contains information about the course and a link to the course materials and the password to access the materials. In addition, purchasing a course on Amazon grants you unlimited rights for teaching the course.

In addition, I have put 17 z/OS-related technical papers on Amazon.

If you contact me by email, and work with me a bit, I will sell you the materials directly. This way I get 100% of the price instead of just 30%. For each item, click on the link that says "click here to buy direct". (Each link sets up an email indicating your interest in the course by specifying my internal course code.)

Finally, here is a link to my site of online courses for creating web pages using Notepad in Windows: Still Plugging Away

 

Table of z/OS course materials

Table of z/OS technical papers

 

z/OS course materials

Course title	Description / Prerequisite	Days Price (USD)	Buy on Amazon
	General / Introduction Courses
Introduction to Application Programming (z/OS)	Basic computer concepts: data description; program flow and design; pseudo-code; examples of programs in various languages; mainframe hardware overview; data representation; base 10, base 2, base 16; z/OS vocabulary: virtual storage, DASD organization, TSO/ISPF, batch vs. online; paper labs only. (180 pages, index) Prerequisite: None, just an apptitude for programming.	2 120.00	B07JDFTD2C click here to buy direct
Introduction to z/OS	Intended for developers new to IBM mainframes (or familiar with IBM mainframes but not familiar with z/OS). Vocabulary and descriptions, no labs. (198 pages, index) Prerequsite: familiarity with any non-z/OS system	1 100.00	B07JCHPG4P click here to buy direct
	TSO, CLIST, REXX, ISPF / Dialog Manager
TSO/ISPF in z/OS	A thorough, intense introduction to ISPF for developers and systems people. Covers structure / organization of ISPF, many z/OS terms, ISPF commands and look-and-feel, utility functions (3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4), browse, view, and edit. Also discusses submitting jobs and looking at the output using ISPF 3.8 or SDSF, or IOF, or Flasher, or (E)JES. (432 pages, 2-page summary sheet, index) Prerequisite: None, although it helps to have some background such as found in "Introduction to Application Programming (z/OS)"	3 150.00	B07JVRB2HS click here to buy direct
ISPF Update	Here's a chance to get up to date with all the changes that have been implemented in ISPF since you first learned it. There are lots of new commands and new capabilities that can allow you to be more effective using this tool. (270 pages, index) Prerequisite: ISPF knowledge / background; this is an update for experienced ISPF users	2 100.00	B07JBRF5SF click here to buy direct
Advanced Topics in ISPF	A deeper exploration of a few topics in ISPF: how to use the Status Area (including the undocumented appointment calendar feature), command nesting, more dslist (ISPF 3.4) commands and features, the edit compare command, the search and compare dialogs, additional ASCII and Unicode support, an introduction to edit macros. (152 pages, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	1 100.00	B07JDZZPLF click here to buy direct
TSO CLIST Programming in z/OS	An introduction to the CLIST language, primarily for those who need to maintain existing CLISTs; also, the only place where we teach the native TSO edit command. (322 pages, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	3 150.00	B07JF12844 click here to buy direct
ISPF and JCL on z/OS	This is a mashup of "TSO/ISPF in z/OS" and "z/OS JCL and Utilities", enabling an ISPF / JCL package to fit into a five day work week. This is done by eliminating redundant passages and dropping a few topics. The omitted topics are: A short introduction to the mainframe environment; reference lists; the Workplace shell; ISPF VSAM support; DELETE and LISTC TSO commands. (662 pages, ISPF summary sheet, JCL summary sheet, index) Prerequisite: None, although it helps to have some background such as found in "Introduction to Application Programming (z/OS)"	200.00	B07JF13L9L click here to buy direct
TSO REXX programming in z/OS	A thorough introduction to REXX on z/OS, including a number of TSO commands, and how to use the REXX compiler. (520 pages, summary of REXX commands and TSO commands covered, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	5 200.00	B07JF1485C click here to buy direct
Introduction to TSO and REXX APIs	Covers interaces to TSO and REXX services when running under TSO or in batch; interaces that allow Assembler and compiled programs to invoke TSO commands and to access and change REXX variables. How to write programs invoked from EXECs using ADDRESS LINK, ADDRESS ATTACH, ADDRESS LINKMVS, ADDRESS ATTCHMVS, ADDRESS LINKPGM and ADDRESS ATTCHPGM. (196 pages, index) Prerequisite: "TSO REXX programming in z/OS" and experience with one of these programming languages: Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C	2 120.00	B07JDFFHWT click here to buy direct
Developing Dialog Manager Applications in z/OS	This fun class assumes prior knowledge of REXX or CLIST and then moves on to provide a thorough introduction to developing, coding, testing, and maintaining applications to be run under the ISPF environment. Panel definition language, ISPF variables and variable services, ISPF service functions (LIBDEF, DISPLAY, LMxxxx, etc.), ISPF messages and message services, pop up windows, scrollable fields, menus, debugging, Edit, View, and Browse, ISPF tables, File tailoring, introduction to Dialog Tag Language, ISPPDTLC service. (682 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS" and either "TSO REXX programming in z/OS" or "TSO CLIST Programming in z/OS" or equivalent experience.	5 200.00	B07JF413J1 click here to buy direct
	JCL and Utilities
z/OS JCL and Utilities	A very intense introduction to JCL, covering all the essentials (JOB, EXEC, DD, OUTPUT, IF / THEN, ELSE, ENDIF, INCLUDE, SET, JCLLIB, PROC, PEND, cataloged and instream procedures, symbolic parameters) as well as a few utilities (IEBGENER, IDCAMS, SORT). (344 pages, JCL summary sheet, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	3 150.00	B07JFQFKDX click here to buy direct
Advanced Topics in z/OS JCL	This class covers most of B-610 very quickly, setting environment for deeper lectures at various points, then moves in to new territory (JCL debugging, VIO, multi-volume data sets, extended format data sets, striped data sets, large format data sets, HFS files, IEBGENER, IEBCOPY, more advanced sort techniques, GDGs, Internal readers, step restart, JES control statements, and more). (416 pages, JCL and JES control statements summary, index) Prerequisite: "z/OS JCL and Utilities", or equivalent experience.	3 150.00	B07JFCFL29 click here to buy direct
Using DFSORT and ICETOOL	The only DFSORT / ICETOOL course on the market, this is a deep and extensive examination of these two utilities. (562 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "z/OS JCL and Utilities", or equivalent experience.	4 180.00	B07JFCFZ2Q click here to buy direct
	Assembler Language
z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 1: Beginnings	This first class in the series introduces the fundamental, underlying concepts, the classic hardware instructions, Assembler instructions (DS, DC, CSECT, END, START, ORG, DSECT, AMODE, RMODE, EQU, CNOP), and all the solid fundamentals. (402 pages, instruction summary, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	5 200.00	B07JF2N66Q click here to buy direct
z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 2: Interfaces	Building on the first class in the series, this course covers standard linkage conventions, QSAM file processing, subroutine linkages, introduction to the program binder, and debugging. Some system services (WTO, SNAP, TIME, STCK, CONVTOD, LOAD, DELETE, LINK, XCTL, GETMAIN, FREEMAIN) are discussed. Includes handling of variable length records, QSAM update in place, 31-bit addressing concerns and writing re-entant code. (304 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 1".	3 150.00	B07JF2LXRH click here to buy direct
z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 3: Update	This course covers new hardware instructions introduced by machines in the 1990's as well as features introduced in HALSM V1R4. Includes the halfword immediate instructions, relative branching, Unicode support, new Assembler parm features, and new USING features. (144 pages, appendix, index) Prerequisite: "z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 2", or equivalent experience.	1 100.00	B07JF2TCFP click here to buy direct
z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 4: z/Architecture	Keeping it all current, this course covers all the new hardware instructions introduced with the various System z machines (at least, those features relevant to application programs) as well as the new facilities in HLASM V1R5 and V1R6. Includes working with 64-bit addresses and integers, new save area conventions, some of the new system services (IARV64 especially) and some of the enhanced support in the program binder. Also includes a description of the new instructions in the new zEC12 mainframe from IBM, announced in August of 2012. (552 pages, index) Prerequisite: "z/OS Assembler Programming, Part 3", or equivalent experience.	4 180.00	B07JDVDB4Z click here to buy direct
	COBOL
Structured COBOL Workshop for Enterprise COBOL	This is a first course for programmers new to COBOL. It could be their first programming language, or it also works if the programmer is adding COBOL to their existing skill set. (524 pages, appendix, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	5 200.00	B07J9KCVY7 click here to buy direct
Advanced Topics in COBOL (Enterprise COBOL, z/OS)	This course builds on the previous course by adding discussions on subroutines, tables (with subscripts and indexes), variable length records, string handling, and, optionally, the COBOL SORT and MERGE verbs. (302 pages, index) Prerequisite: "Structured COBOL Workshop for Enterprise COBOL", or equivalent experience.	3 150.00	B07JD9SNCP click here to buy direct
Enterprise COBOL Debugging and Maintenance	This course focuses on debugging COBOL programs, including using LE dumps (CEEDUMPs), tools available in the COBOL language, and LE condition handling. It also includes a deeper look into subroutines and the program binder. (314 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "Advanced Topics in COBOL (Enterprise COBOL, z/OS)", or equivalent experience.	2 120.00	B07JDDSSHT click here to buy direct
Enterprise COBOL Update	Intended for experienced programmers who have not had a chance to get caught up with the latest IBM COBOL compilers, this course covers all the significant changes in COBOL from COBOL II V3 through Enterprise COBOL V4R2, including a brief introduction to Language Environment. (404 pages, appendix on Millenium Language Extensions, index) Prerequisite: Experience writing COBOL programs.	2 120.00	B07JCM4NDT click here to buy direct
Enterprise COBOL Unicode and XML Support	This course if for the experienced COBOL programmer who has a need to process XML data from a COBOL program. Since Unicode plays a prominent role in XML, we begin with a look at the features included in COBOL for working with Unicode data, then we explore XML PARSE and XML GENERATE (using both XMLPARSE(COMPAT) and XMLPARSE(XMLSS) options). (228 pages, appendix, index) Prerequisite: "Enterprise COBOL Update", or equivalent experience.	2 120.00	B07JCLZTZ5 click here to buy direct
	VSAM
VSAM With Access Method Services	Here we cover VSAM vocabulary and concepts then how to load and display records from VSAM data sets, (includes coverage of ESDS, KSDS, RRDS, and AIX) and how to estimate space requirements for VSAM data sets. (196 pages, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS", or equivalent experience.	2 120.00	B07JW2RPL5 click here to buy direct
VSAM for PL/I Programmers	Here we cover VSAM vocabulary and concepts then how to load, access, and update VSAM data sets from PL/I programs (includes coverage of ESDS, KSDS, RRDS, and AIX). (186 pages, index) Prerequisite: Experience writing PL/I programs.	2 120.00	B07JF3QRVL click here to buy direct
VSAM for COBOL Programmers	Here we cover VSAM vocabulary and concepts then how to load, access, and update VSAM data sets from COBOL programs (includes coverage of ESDS, KSDS, RRDS, and AIX). (260 pages, index) Prerequisite: Experience writing COBOL programs.	2 120.00	B07JBM5PBT click here to buy direct
	Language Environment, InterLanguage Communication, DLLs
Using LE Services in z/OS	A thorough introduction to the terms, vocabulary, and concepts of Language Environment. This course also examines all the run time options and callable services and many ways to use these services from programs written in COBOL, Assembler, PL/I, and C. (620 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS" and experience with one of these programming languages: Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C.	3 150.00	B07JG29W1Z click here to buy direct
Cross Program Communication in z/OS	This course explores the intricacies of one program calling another. The calling program and the called program may be written in the same language or a different language (the course covers Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, and C: students choose the language(s) they want to explore). We explore static calls and dynamic calls. How to define variables, structures, and tables is explored, and how to pass these items (by reference, by content, by value) and how to receive them. This includes passing and recieving a variable number of parameters. The class delves into the structure of object code and the workings of the program binder. We also examine the creation and use of multiple entry points and shared data. (490 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "Using LE Services in z/OS" and experience with one of these programming languages: Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C.	3 150.00	B07JG24GW6 click here to buy direct
Creating and Using DLLs in z/OS	In this course we examine the concepts and vocabulary of DLLs (Dynamic Link Libraries) and then put them into practice with labs that created and invoke DLLs. DLLs may be written in Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, and C, and they may be invoked from programs written in Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, and C - the invoking program does not have to be written in the same language as the DLL being invoked. We also discuss PL/I packages. (150 pages, index) Prerequisite: "Cross Program Communication in z/OS" and experience with one of these programming languages: Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C.	1 100.00	B07JDVG398 click here to buy direct
	z/OS UNIX System Services and the World Wide Web
Introduction to z/OS UNIX	This class provides a solid introduction to working in the z/OS UNIX environment, including over 60 commands and building a small (three page) website. Also discusses UDList (ISPF 3.17) and telnet. (512 pages, appendices including command summary, index) Prerequisite: "TSO/ISPF in z/OS" or equivalent experience.	3 150.00	B07JG2HDHS click here to buy direct
Shell Script Programming in z/OS UNIX	This course extends the work done in the above course by discussing additional commands and how to create and run shell scripts. Includes user-defined fucntions, sed, and the BPXBATCH facility. The interested student will also find a good introduction to vi and the bc programming language. (580 pages, appendicies, index) Prerequisite: "Introduction to z/OS UNIX" or equivalent experience.	3 150.00	B07JFHV8PS click here to buy direct
Developing Applications for z/OS UNIX	Here we move into coding programs that use z/OS UNIX facilities. The course supports Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, and C languages: the students each choose the language(s) they prefer to work in. The programs created can: interact with the user at a terminal, handle files (classic MVS files or z/OS files), and dynamically call subroutines. The programs can be run from the shell or, in some cases, in batch. We cover Assembling / compiling, and binding using z/OS UNIX commands instead of JCL. A deep exploration of make and makefiles allows creating procedures to simplify the maintenance process. (492 pages, appendices, index) Prerequisite: "Introduction to z/OS UNIX" or equivalent experience, plus experience with one of these programming languages: Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C.	3 150.00	B07JW8GRZY click here to buy direct
Introduction to CGIs in z/OS	This course lays the groundwork for creating and running CGIs on a z/OS system used as a web server. Common terms, procedures, and data formats are discussed. Sample CGIs in many languages are used as examples. This course is expected to be followed by one of our langauge-specific CGI courses. (208 pages, appendix, index) Prerequisite: "You and z/OS and the World Wide Web" or equivalent experience.	1 100.00	B07JGF4Q1W click here to buy direct
Writing z/OS CGIs in COBOL	Using techniques learned in previous courses, the student now learns how to code and run CGIs written in COBOL. These include handling redirection requests and both GET and POST requests. The CGIs access VSAM files and (if DB2 is available) DB2 tables. The use of Unicode is also covered, as well as submitting jobs to the batch from a CGI. (220 pages, appendix, index) Prerequisite: "Introduction to CGIs in z/OS" or equivalent experience and experience writing COBOL programs.	2 120.00	B07JFSMJVC click here to buy direct
Writing z/OS CGIs in Assembler	Using techniques learned in previous courses, the student now learns how to code and run CGIs written in Assembler. These include handling redirection requests and both GET and POST requests. The CGIs access VSAM files and (if DB2 is available) DB2 tables. The use of Unicode is also covered, as well as submitting jobs to the batch from a CGI. (262 pages, appendix, index) Prerequisite: "Introduction to CGIs in z/OS" or equivalent experience and experience writing Assembler programs.	2 120.00	B07JGFGLNB click here to buy direct

 

The total collection above can be ordered with one click for USD 4,810.

 

 

z/OS technical papers

Title of paper	# pages	Price (USD)	Amazon ID
Doing Packed Decimal Arithmetic in Assembler	100	9.50	B075673DHR
The Arc of DB2 (Using DB2 to work the World Wide Web)	100	9.50	B07566QG56
Enterprise COBOL - A Tool for Growth	77	9.50	B0756753FH
z/OS, Language Environment, and UNIX: How They Work Together	157	9.95	B07566G6KC
z/OS Control Blocks for Beginners	52	9.95	B07565MGXT
Hosting a Website on z/OS: one person's experience	17	9.75	B07566F2ZN
Coding AJAX Applications (Using HTML, JavaScript and COBOL on z/OS)	80	9.75	B07564K97C
Setting up the IBM HTTP Server: A near-cookbook to get you going	40	8.00	B07563N1D6
Writing Reentrant Programs	26	6.50	B0756HWSZN
The Future of Mainframes is Now	28	2.99	B0756GLTX5
An Introduction to Unicode	52	3.50	B07563SCWL
Creating Modern Business Computer Applications on z/OS	24	2.99	B0756H6GN5
The UNIX bc programming language	36	3.00	B07566YKKP
Applications Assembler Programming for z: a discourse	47	4.00	B0756H67PW
Introduction to eXtensible Stylesheet Language for Transfomation (XSLT)	30	3.50	B0756JL756
I/O and AMODE 31	7	3.20	B07567W8FD
Enterprise COBOL Version 5.1 Differences	7	4.50	B07566JG9K

 

The total collection of papers above can be ordered with one click for USD 110.