Explanation about TSO ISPF commands and their use in MAINFRAMES!

Question

Please give me some links or materials covering the explanation of TSO ISPF commands in mainframes and their use.

Answer 1

IBM Manuals is your best bet

Answer 2

Here is a link to the ISPF for z/OS library.

The basic beginners starting point for learning ISPF starts here.

However, once you get past the opening menu and the submenus you should dig into the following references to better understand what you can really do: User's Guide - Volume I (SC34-4822-09), User's Guide - Volume II (SC34-4823-09) and Edit and Edit Macros (SC34-4820-09). These can be found in the ISPF for Z/OS library.

If you are going to spend any time working on an IBM Mainframe you should try springing loose a copy of Gary Deward Brown's JCL book. This is the bible for JCL, utilities and also has a good section on ISPF.

Edit:

Based the way you tagged your question I am guessing you really want to ask: What the heck is ISPF and what does it have to do with mainframes?

Wikipedia provides a good introduction. But where does ISPF fit into the mainframe world? ISPF is an IBM product mainly used on their mainframes. The IBM mainframe may be seen as providing three different operating environments:

• Batch: Programs are run from an automated schedule (eg. start program A at 8:00PM, when it is done, run program B etc.) The schedule determines what to run, the order and timing of things. End users and programmers do not provide any live input to batch programs. Batch jobs are typically "scripted" using JCL. An example of a batch application might be producing monthly bank statements for all clients.

• Online: Programs are typically run under a Transaction Processor such as CICS and provide an interactive user interface for entering/retrieving and updating data in a production environment. This is the application user's environment. An example of an online transaction might be what the bank teller uses to check your account, make a deposit or withdrawal.

• ISPF: This is an interactive environment that programmers typically work in to manage development of programs (ie. the programs that will comprise production Batch jobs and CICS transactions. These programs are frequently written in COBOL). ISPF provides a front end to managing datasets, running utility programs, editing files and compiling programs. Application end users typically do not use ISPF, programmers and systems management people do. Note: ISPF runs on top of TSO, but that is going beyond where I think you need to be at this point.

The above outline is somewhat over simplified but should give you a general feeling for the mainframe landscape.

Answer 3

TSO ISPF commands are mostly driven by JCL. Think of JCL as an equivalent to the batch files in the Microsoft land, or bash scripts in Linux/*nix land. JCL has a learning curve to it in the sense that it's the script that launches the COBOL/RPG programs from, the tricky part of JCL is specifying datasets and the expected types that corresponds or would be expected as input to the COBOL programs. Here's an introduction to MVS/JCL. TheAmericanProgrammer JCL training materials. Here's another JCL Tutorial. And here's the JCL Quick Reference.

Hope this helps, Best regards, Tom.

Answer 4

I've collected many articles and tutorials about mainframe stuff. Especially the topics about ISPF are mainly from Jim Moore, a prolific and exceptionally gifted technical writer Although I would always recommend reading the IBM manuals first, you might find a lot of additional material here.