Old Farts of a Certain Age Will Be Amused

[furrbear]

Daily Kos: Ready for the Future, Ready for the Enterprise

Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 10:32:03 AM PDT

There are many websites out there that have embraced the Web 2.0 philosophy. In today's environment, it's important to leverage social networks, new technologies like Ajax, and new computing initiatives like cloud computing.

There is something to be said for looking towards a simpler time, though. That's why I am proud to announce that after many man-months of effort, Daily Kos will be stepping up to enterprise level functionality and going WEB/360. Rather than use buttons and zooming menus that no one really understands, you'll now interface with Daily Kos using the tried and true JCL, delivered straight to your line printer.

Unfortunately we've had some difficulties with hooking up the virtual punch card readers that you'll use to browse the site, so a web form will have to suffice for the WEB/360 demonstration. Don't worry, it'll be just as easy to type the JCL in as it would be to use the punch cards.

Not all of the planned functionality is currently operational. We're still getting bugs out of the system (some physical bugs) and waiting for new processing units from IBM to arrive to assist with processing posting, rating, and logging in through the new interface.

The JCL syntax for WEB/360 is easy to learn and use. This sample code gives an overview:

//JOBNAME1 JOB
//MSGCLASS=S,CLASS=A,NOTIFY=CT
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=SCPREAD
//IDXT=MAIN /* or STOR, or DIAR, or COMM */
//OFFSET=0
//* or STORY ID=123456,MODE=STORONLY or MODE=STORFULL
//* or COMMT ID=27123456,MODE=FULL or MODE=SHRK
//SITE=DKOS
//        DISP=18
//* if IDXT is STOR or COMM, then DISP=,
//        SPOOL=$$U
//DSR MYSAM DSN=DKOS.LOAD,DISP=SHR
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*

Notes:

• Every line must start with "//". This is important to keep you from putting your punchcards in backwards.
• Each line must be no longer than 71 characters including spaces and the starting "//".
• The job name must be present, and must be no more than 8 letters long. The word "JOB" must begin at the 12th character on the line. Add spaces if your job name is less than 8 letters long.
• Put your username in all caps after NOTIFY=.
• MAIN is the front page, DIARY is the diaries page, STOR is an individual story, and COMM is comments. Set IDXT to the desired format.
• OFFSET is the offset on the MAIN or DIAR pages. It functions like the "Next 18" link at the bottom of the page. Maximum value is 18. Set OFFSET to 0 for the current front page.
• There must be exactly 8 spaces between the "//" and DISP or SPOOL.
• //* and /* */ represent comments.
• Sometimes a problem in the computer will prevent your job from being processed. If the error message doesn't indicate a JCL syntax problem, just resubmit it.
• ADDENDUM:
  • DISP indicates how many stories to display, with a maximum value of 18.
  • Check your syntax - look for extra space a the end of your commands and remove it.
  • This document replaces the previous.
  • This list item intentionally left blank.

If something goes wrong, don't worry. The system will tell you exactly what went wrong in clear, easy to understand language. Just refer to Publication GZ28-1466-9, WEB/360 JCL Reference.

Remember, this is just a demonstration of the coming changes. I can't promise a firm date, but we should be moved over to the new system within three weeks. After that, Daily Kos will be fully WEB/360 enabled. A legacy "web browser" interface will be kept for a time, but it will be dropped at a future date, probably four weeks from now. A manual will be published to assist utilizing the site before that time.

Comments

[westwind-mv.livejournal.com]

/* and */ denote comments UNLESS the /* is in columns 1-2, in which case it signifies end of input stream:

//GO.SYSIN DD *
data
data
/*

I still have brain cells remembering this, and it's been 30 years since I last used it. Eeeeek!

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

I'm reasonably sure I still have a JCL book around somewhere. It's probably in a box along an APL textbook.

[hickbear.livejournal.com]

ObMarriedGeeks: My APL textbook from the summer of 1981 is on one of our bookcases in our living room.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

Spring '80

[gearjock.livejournal.com]

I still have my JCL/MVS manual downstairs....

[hickbear.livejournal.com]

We're still getting bugs out of the system (some physical bugs)

Apropos of absolutely nothing, but springing from this line...

When I was in grad school at Virginia Tech in the early 80's, one of my professors swore upon a case of Tullamore Dew that he was a witness to the first computer "bug" and that it was, yes, quite physical. Dr. G. would toss the occasional Bullshit McNugget, but that was always quite obvious and usually to just make sure that his audience was still listening. On this and other matters, we could tell when the BullshitOmeter was at 0.

He also swore that the tradition of unit/device 5 being the "card reader", 6 being the "printer", 7 being the "tape drive", etc., came from one of the first ENIACs and that, again, he was a witness to when the device connectors were "counted" and assigned their numbers.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

I'd be willing to believe that the version I heard of that bug story from Grace Hopper was probably more accurate. Even at an advanced age she captivated the audience - filled one of the university's larger lecture halls.

[westwind-mv.livejournal.com]

I actually have a Grace Hopper nanosecond. (For those who are unfamiliar with this, she used to carry around lengths of wire just under a foot long -- the exact length that light travels in a billionth of a second -- and hand them out to people)

[dfwruffplay.livejournal.com]

Everything old is new again...

[gearjock.livejournal.com]

and most of all REMEMBER!! Draw a line in marker across all your cards should you drop the stack before you reach the card hopper!!!

[strongaxe.livejournal.com]

Wow! Another blast from the past. :)

Punch cards

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

Forty years ago at "the Lazy L", we of course used card decks. Occasionally there would be card reader errors. One time I remarked to another rocket scientist "you're using the yellow [banded] cards, that's your problem!" I meant it as a joke, of course. It turns out that those yellow punch cards were out of spec, being too long, and that caused the card reader to malfunction.

I remember that it was a "big deal" when they changed from mechanical card readers that used copper "brushes" to optical readers. The new readers were faster and did not "eat" the cards like the mechanical ones.

Chuck, anyone remember the IBM 026?

Re: Punch cards

[westwind-mv.livejournal.com]

I'm not Chuck, but I remember the 026. I started on a 029 (this was the late 1960s), but would occasionally work at a place that only had a 026. I remember the round keys and the big cable connecting the keyboard to the rest of the keypunch.

Lots of fond memories of the 029, including how to prepare the program drum card, and the fragile little spiked wheels that read the punches and kept breaking.

Re: Punch cards

[strongaxe.livejournal.com]

When I was in high school (1969-1974), we had an IBM 1130 system with a 1442 card reader/punch, and 1132 line printer, and 4 029 keypunches and one old 026. Just after I graduated, they upgraded to a 2501 reader and 1403(?) chain printer.

Not just for old farts...

[sskroeder.livejournal.com]

I also find this amusing - does that make me a young, old fart ?

I must admit that I only do very little in the JCL sphere, but at least I'm able to fire off my small gems of COBOL goodness ;-D

--------
In other news: One of the April Fool's news bulletins at work was the story that IBM had revoked our OPC license and that all 270.000 nightly batch jobs had to be run by hand by the system managers (I'm one of them) effective April 1st... ;-D
Also - all changes to the flow should be done via Visio drawings of the full batchflow with changes and comments highlighted in different colours ;-D

[mellowtigger]

Memories. :) I used to know JCL programming. Well, "know" is a strong word. I could copy any existing job stream and modify it to do whatever I needed. *laugh* That was better than many other programmers around me at the time, anyway.

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

I'm *thrilled* to have missed that whole thing.

Then again, only by a few years...