Mainframe Connectivity: What’s Missing?
June 21, 2021
We can, perhaps, all remember a time when a simple 3270 terminal emulator was all we needed to access the mainframe without needing a directly-connected terminal. And we were really pleased that we could work from anywhere using this simple solution to our communication problem. It worked and our expectations were not very high. Next, […]
ArticlesBound to Compile: Skipping the Source Code
May 31, 2021
I like interpretive and scripting languages: The source is the code so you never have to go hunting for the original text version of a program when updating it. But they do run much more slowly than compiled ones. Consequently, some scripting languages, like REXX, can also be compiled in order to speed them up. […]
ArticlesNode.js on z/OS: How Real Is It?
May 24, 2021
Node.js is a popular environment to allow JavaScript to run outside of a browser. A 2020 Stack Overflow survey saw 50% vote Node.js as the most popular framework, library or tool. Anyone working with the open-source mainframe framework Zowe will be familiar with Node.js: it’s needed for both the Zowe server and Zowe CLI. But […]
E-BooksTechChannel E-book: How to Combat Remote Work Security Risks
May 10, 2021
How remote work has influenced data security trends, and what you can do to keep your data locked down
ArticlesWhat Coding Language Should You Teach Yourself?
January 25, 2021
Coding and programming are major additions to any worker’s skillset and can make the job market a much easier place to navigate. Companies everywhere are looking for candidates who are already trained in various coding languages, and the good news is that with all the online resources available for free, it’s easy to teach yourself […]
What Makes CICS, a Mixed Language Application Server, So Special?
August 10, 2020
CICS® has been around since 1969 and still continues to flourish as a mixed language application server today. Primarily running on mainframes, also known as an IBM Z®, CICS does run in limited forms on other platforms, as well. As an application server, it is used to host applications that can be written in several […]
ArticlesModernization Carries Varied Meanings for Different People
March 23, 2020
When the IBM z15 was announced I couldn’t wait to read the information about the advancements and changes that we would all see. I quickly read about System Recovery Boost, integrated zEDC compression, standard rack space frame, double cache density on each chip, etc. The modern mainframe; the fastest, most resilient and high availability, commercially-available […]
ArticlesGetting Started With REST and SQL
January 2, 2020
Rest, can you ever really get enough of it? Not only is rest great in the overnight hours, but it’s key in today’s world of modern development. For many years, IBM i has included a web services engine, which was originally able to create SOAP-based web services over RPG and COBOL programs and services programs. […]
ArticlesClosing the COBOL Programming Skills Gap
October 25, 2019
The backbone of today’s electronic commerce is COBOL on an IBM Z computing platform. There are 240 billion lines of COBOL in operation, and another 5 billion new lines are added each year. $3 trillion of commercial transactions are processed by COBOL applications each day. COBOL is what business runs on. Some reports indicate that […]
ArticlesApplication Performance and Tuning
May 14, 2019
As the original author of “CICS Performance Bulletin” published by IBM Dallas System Center, and co-author of the subsequent IBM “CICS TS Performance Guide” in conjunction with IBM Hursley CICS TS Development, performance and tuning has been a big part of my job. I’ve performed more CICS performance studies than I can count, and almost […]