In article
<d34c3b25-9d11-4b3f-80d6-e849d8920efc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
<spam.trap.4646@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Apr 26, 3:08 pm, "Pete Dashwood"
><dashw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "Clark F Morris" <cfmpub...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
>messagenews:7qj614pm61h4btt05omi0q54trl8utuoim@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:47:49 +1200, "Pete Dashwood"
>> > <dashw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> >><docdw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> >>news:fuuk0d$1cc$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >>> In article <67fijqF2olng...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>> >>> Pete Dashwood <dashw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> >>>><docdw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> >>>>news:futr0t$dc1$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >>>>> In article <67f6qhF2ohsg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>> >>>>> Pete Dashwood <dashw...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>> >>>>>>"gapsted" <dsu...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>
>>>>>>news:ec00223e-3204-495f-9b15-166a5aef9857@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> >>>>> [snip]
>>
>> >>>>>>No ads, no sponsor****p, just a free place to get mainframers
together.
>> >>>>>>A gathering place for the mainframe community.
>>
>> >>>>>>[Pete]
>>
>> >>>>>>So how do I access that with ISPF?
>>
>> >>>>> The same way one accesses any gathering place with it, I'd guess.
>>
>> >>>>Ah, yes... Wait til TSO is not busy (yeah, right...), try ISPF, get
sick
>> >>>>of
>> >>>>waiting so knock up a quick REXX script to automatically keep
trying
>> >>>>until
>> >>>>success. Only, by then forgotten why I was visiting anyway... :-)
>>
>> >>>>I just love the idea of a bunch of mainframers all "gathering" on a
>> >>>>blog...
>> >>>>It's like having a waterhole but they haven't learned to lap yet,
and
>> >>>>nobody
>> >>>>brought a cup... :-)
>>
>> >>> No cup? Not a problem, Mr Dashwood... there'd be a mainframer
there who
>> >>> might know enough about tools to be able to Assemble one.
>>
>> >>:-) Fair enough.
>>
>> >>Magic, the Gathering...
>>
>> > As someone who MIGHT be getting a mainframe programming contract, I
>> > assume that Pete is being sarcastically tongue in cheek.
>>
>> Tongue firmly lodged in cheek, yes. :-)
>>
>> However, sarcasm, when I do it, is "irony"...:-)
>>
>> >Most of us
>> > access the Internet from Windows (like me) or Linux PCs. I keep up
>> > with some non-mainframe blogs and the blog mentioned in the posting
>> > has not gotten good reviews from ibm-m...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
which is
>> > mirrored to bit.listserv.ibm-main. There are shops running
mainframes
>> > as Internet application servers. Some shops are using Websphere.
>>
>> Yes, indeedy... I see it as a sign of hope :-)
>>
>> It does no harm to poke some gentle fun at ourselves occasionally,
>> nonetheless...
>>
>> This forum is a bit like a time warp sometimes.
>>
>> I'm currently replacing some COBOL code for re****ting, with a package
that
>> generates C#. Programs with mind-numbing re****t lines with carefully
>> counted fillers and literals, thousands of lines of COBOL, accessing
flat
>> files, manipulating the data, checking control breaks and totalling,
>> producing variable headings and sub headings, ensuring page numbers are
>> updated... weeks of effort. Now, the system has been converted to RDB
so the
>> COBOL code doesn't work any more...
>>
>> There is a package called Stimulsoft that runs in the DotNet evironment
as
>> an integrated extension to Visual Studio, and generates C# from a
visual
>> layout of the re****t. Visual Studio analyses the database and generates
all
>> the connection and DB access code you need for your re****t (including
SQL
>> that you may modify if you want to - so far I haven't needed to...).
>> Stimulsoft consumes the dataset generated by the code from VS, and the
>> re****t is produced ready for printing or ex****t to .PDF, XML, etc. If
you
>> want to do anything clever with the data before it gets to Stimulsoft,
you
>> can bung in a few lines of C#... A 2600 line COBOL program that
probably
>> took at least a week to get working, is replaced by a job that takes a
>> couple of hours at most (mainly just laying re****t lines out visually -
no
>> more counting bytes of filler), and required me to actually code less
than
>> 20 lines of C#.
>>
>> To be fair, I spent about 27 hours evaluating and learning what Visual
>> Studio and the package could do... :-) But that's a one time investment
and
>> gives me another skill I may sell or use sometime...
>>
>> In this day and age there is no reason why anyone should be ****ing over
>> re****t line formats and worrying about PCL codes, but the posts here
attest
>> that they are...
>>
>> It's enough to drive a bloke to pick up his cup and head for the
gathering
>> at the water hole...:-)
>>
>> Pete.
>> --
>> "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
>>
>> P.S. I do not hold programmers responsible for poor management
decisions...
>> You can bet if some of the managers had to write re****t programs
there'd be
>> a lot more use of packages...:-)
>
>Do COBOL programmers still write re****t programs in some shops? I
>haven't written one in at least 10 years, and I've been working in the
>IBM mainframe world all of that time. All of our re****ts are produced
>by QMF, or, if intended for customers, via AFP.
>
>
>Don Leahy
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