GGUESS – Number Guessing Game across technology stacks from PC BASIC to MVS 3.8J TSO / ISPF / KICKS /Hercules to HTML JavaScript(current version 0.9.00 2024-05-01) One of my first programs to write (during the late 1970’s) was a number guessing game using interactive BASIC interpreters on the Altair 8800 and TRS-80 Model I microcomputers (Intel 8080 CPU). The program…
Category: COBOL
TASKLIST in MVS38J
Preview Using a daily planning application under ISPF to conveniently manage and maintain a to-do calendar list was a brilliant idea, especially in the 1980’s, before the availability of personal digital assistants (e.g. PalmPilot or Newton MessagePad)! On CBTTAPE.ORG, CBT231 contains such an application named TASKLIST written by Joe Veilleux from APC contributed circa 1985. Download CBT231 for reference and…
LBTUTOR in MVS38J
Overview LBTUTOR– ISPFv2.2 Tutorial Utility for MVS38J / Hercules(current version 0.9.02 2024-07-01) ISPF 2.2 from Wally Mclaughlin is a great addition to MVS 3.8J TSO providing an ISPF-like environment on you personal mainframe. ISPTUTOR allows help panels to provide help tutorials for ISPF applications when defined and arranged in a special manner. Under the real-ISPF, the HELP function integrates with…
CLGLST in MVS38J
Overview CLGLST – ISPF Log and List add-on for MVS38J TSO / ISPF / Hercules(current version 0.9.02 2024-07-01) As the current version of ISPF 2.x (ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin) does not offer a LOG or LIST service, the purpose of this post is to discuss an alternate logging and listing application for ISPF 2.x on MVS 3.8J TK3 and…
GETDTE in MVS38J
Overview GETDTE – Get Date-Time-Environment Utility for MVS 3.8J TSO / ISPF / Hercules(current version 1.0.02 2024-07-01) When writing software, whether a quick report or utility, it may be necessary to display a current date and/or time component on a screen or report. This basic information is so common, why not isolate into a common module? GETDTE, a subroutine utility,…
SHRABIT.MACLIB in MVS 3.8J
Overview SHRABIT – MACLIB for ShareABitOfIT software applications for MVS38J / Hercules(current version 1.0.04 2024-07-01) SHRABIT.MACLIB is a PDS that stores a set of common macros and COBOL copybooks for various software offered on this site to the MVS 3.8J hobbyist community. It is an installation requisite for some software and will be listed accordingly in installation instructions. The current…
GETMSG in MVS38J
GETMSG – Get ISPF Message for MVS38J /ISPF / Hercules(current version 0.9.00 2019-09-11) Overview GETMSG is a simple ISPF utility for use under ISPF 2.x (ISPF-like product from Wally Mclaughlin). Specifically, this utility will fetch an ISPF message from MLIB and return each message component (e.g. short and long message content) in ISPF Shared variables for CLISTs access. This utility…
DYNBLOAD in MVS38J
Overview For those MVS 3.8J enthusiasts using the supplied MVT COBOL (referred to as COBOL) compiler, you probably discovered that called programs must be statically linked and resolved before executing the problem (calling) program. This results in a composite load module that includes the COBOL problem program itself, COBOL ILB* subroutines and other subroutines called by the COBOL problem program.…
CALNDRs in MVS38J
Overview In late 2018, in the interest of interfacing with Wally’s Mclaughlin’s newly ISPF-like product, I wrote a simple application using different solution sets for educational and learning purposes to demonstrate the versatility of using diffent programming languages. CALNDRs (Calendars) in MVS38J is a post that discusses that application using the compilers offered and supplied with MVS 3.8J in conjunction…
PARMs in MVS38J
Overview Passing parameters to a program is a common practice when using and/or developing subroutines. The parameter communications protocol (API) can take different forms depending on established APIs or newly defined APIs. This post will focus on two types of parameter layouts encountered in a TSO / ISPF environment when invoking a program or command: Parameter layout used by TSO…