Random and ‘Almost Random’ Numbers on z/OS
September 17, 2021
Random numbers can come in handy. They can be used to create a unique filename, generate a random new password, or randomly select a record. The good news is that we can obtain random numbers on z/OS. Well, at least some of them are random. COBOL and RANDOM A quick look at the IBM Enterprise […]
ArticlesLiam Allan Expands Development Accessibility With the Code for IBM i Extension
September 13, 2021
Sometimes the best way to create new technology is to continue using standards that have already been proven successful, while simultaneously making them more accessible. This was Liam Barry Allan’s thought process when he first started Code for IBM i, an open-source Visual Studio (VS) Code extension for all IBM i development needs. Allan is […]
PodcastsElizabeth K. Joseph on Being a Developer Advocate and the Future of Mainframe Technology
September 1, 2021
Reg Harbeck: Hi. This is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with Elizabeth K. Joseph who is a developer advocate at IBM and an increasingly well-known mainframer. I've kind of gotten to know her through various social media outlets and such. Elizabeth—Liz, I guess I can call you—tell us, how did you end up on the […]
ArticlesContainers, Microservices and Open Source: IBM i From Another Perspective
August 19, 2021
If you’ve worked with enterprise software development, I assume you’ve come across concepts like microservices and containers. Perhaps you’ve worked with Kubernetes or OpenShift. And maybe you already develop microservices in Java with the open-source framework Spring Boot and are over the moon about how great GraalVM is. Personally, I use all the above with […]
PodcastsPhil Teplitzky on Structured Programming and Software
August 5, 2021
Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with Phil Teplitzky, who is the managing director of the Teplitzky Associates, but that doesn't tell you nearly as much as you're going to find out about someone has been right there in the middle of the history of the mainframe in so many interesting […]
IBM Announces IBM z/OS V2.5
July 28, 2021
According to an IBM Institute for Business Value study “Application modernization on the mainframe” released today, 71% of executives surveyed say mainframe-based applications are central to their business strategy; and in three years, the percentage of organizations leveraging mainframe assets in a hybrid cloud environment is expected to increase by more than 2x. With this in […]
ArticlesSurvey Says: The Truth About COBOL and the World Economy
July 19, 2021
On June 14, 2021, the COBOL Working Group (CWG) of the Linux Foundation Open Mainframe Project (OMP) had the opportunity to present at the Marist Enterprise Computing Community (ECC) conference about a topic that shouldn’t be so surprising if people didn’t overlook how interesting and compelling it is—COBOL. Ah, COBOL: Common Business-Oriented Language—a name for […]
ArticlesOvercoming Unconscious Biases on COBOL and Women in Technology
July 12, 2021
TechChannel is excited to announce an upcoming monthly video series featuring conversations with women of COBOL, all of which will be moderated by (and is the brainchild of) Misty Decker, product marketing director, Micro Focus. Decker’s broad expertise within the mainframe ecosystem, along with her dedication to correcting misinformation and shifting unconscious biases, ultimately led […]
ArticlesHow to Use JSON in Your z/OS Program
July 7, 2021
First created in 2001, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) has become the preferred way of creating structured data. Not limited to JavaScript applications, JSON formats can be found in web requests and responses and NoSQL databases. So, it makes sense that we will want our traditional z/OS programming languages (COBOL, PL/I, Assembler, C and REXX) to […]
PodcastsDerek Britton on the Language and Application of COBOL
July 1, 2021
Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with my colleague Derek Britton who is a very active member of the enterprise computing community and especially the COBOL community. Derek, maybe if I can get you to start by tell us how did you end up being such an aficionado of both COBOL […]