Chapter 29: Further Reading - Mainframe Utilities for COBOL Developers

Books

"DFSORT Application Programming Guide" by IBM (SC26-7523) Although technically an IBM manual, this guide reads more like a tutorial than a reference and is the single best resource for learning DFSORT. It covers every control statement with extensive examples, including advanced features like OUTFIL for multi-file output, SPLICE for joining records, and ICETOOL for multi-operation processing in a single job step. The examples progress from simple sorts to sophisticated data transformations.

"MVS Utilities Quick Reference" by Gary DeWard Brown A compact, task-oriented guide to every commonly used mainframe utility. Each utility is presented with its purpose, required DD statements, control statement syntax, and complete JCL examples. This is the ideal desk reference for COBOL developers who need to quickly assemble JCL for utility operations without wading through lengthy IBM manuals.

"Partitioned Dataset Extended (PDSE) and PDS Management" by IBM Redbooks This Redbook covers the management of partitioned datasets in z/OS, including the differences between PDS and PDSE, the use of IEBCOPY for copying and compressing, and best practices for library management. For COBOL developers who maintain source and load libraries, understanding PDS management is a daily necessity.

Online Resources

IBM DFSORT/ICETOOL Tricks and Tips (DFSORT Home Page) IBM's DFSORT team maintains a collection of "tricks" documents that showcase advanced DFSORT techniques, such as creating reports with headers and trailers, performing lookup operations against reference files, converting between data formats, and generating sequence numbers. These documents demonstrate capabilities that many developers do not realize DFSORT possesses.

Planet Mainframe: Utility Programming Articles The Planet Mainframe community publishes practical articles on mainframe utilities, including side-by-side comparisons of utility capabilities, performance benchmarks, and recipes for common data processing tasks. The articles are written by experienced mainframe practitioners and often address scenarios not covered in official documentation.

SHARE Conference: DFSORT and IDCAMS Advanced Techniques SHARE proceedings include presentations from IBM's own DFSORT development team, often revealing new features and optimization techniques before they appear in the official documentation. Sessions on IDCAMS advanced usage cover topics like conditional processing, performance tuning for REPRO operations, and integration with SMS-managed storage.

IBM Documentation

"z/OS DFSMS Access Method Services for Catalogs" (SC23-6853) The complete reference for IDCAMS, covering every command (DEFINE, ALTER, DELETE, REPRO, PRINT, LISTCAT, VERIFY, and more) with full syntax diagrams and detailed parameter descriptions. The sections on VSAM cluster definition and alternate index creation are essential references for any COBOL developer working with VSAM data.

"z/OS DFSORT Application Programming Guide" (SC23-6878) The official guide to DFSORT covering SORT, MERGE, and COPY operations along with all control statements including INCLUDE, OMIT, INREC, OUTREC, OUTFIL, and SUM. The appendices provide comprehensive tables of format types, comparison rules, and return code meanings.

"z/OS DFSMSdfp Utilities" (SC23-6864) This manual documents IEBGENER, IEBCOPY, IEBCOMPR, IEBUPDTE, IEBPTPCH, and other DFSMSdfp utilities. Each utility entry includes the purpose, JCL requirements, control statement syntax, and examples. It is the authoritative reference for the non-sort, non-IDCAMS utilities that COBOL developers use regularly.

Standards and Practices

"Utility Selection Guidelines for Mainframe Data Processing" Industry best practices documents help developers choose the right utility for each task. For instance, when is DFSORT ICETOOL preferred over a COBOL program? When should IEBGENER be replaced by ICEGENER or DFSORT COPY? These guidelines, often maintained internally by mainframe operations teams, codify the collective experience of decades of mainframe data processing.

"DFSORT vs. SyncSort: Compatibility and Migration Considerations" While DFSORT (IBM) and SyncSort (now Precisely) are largely compatible, there are differences in advanced features, JCL parameter support, and performance characteristics. Resources comparing these two sort products help COBOL developers write portable sort control statements and understand which features are product-specific versus universally supported.