Introduction

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#0099FF" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="04100610egcecm.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Java for OS/390 and z/OS Tips and FAQs</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Java for OS/390 and z/OS Tips and FAQs"><U><B>Home</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Privacy Policy"><U><B>Privacy Policy</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Introduction</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Basics"><U>The Basics</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Development Tools"><U>Development Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Frequently Asked Questions"><U>Frequently Asked Questions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="IBM Manuals"><U>IBM Manuals</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Privacy Policy"><U>Privacy Policy</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="mailto:garyp@firstech.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:garyp@firstech.com"><U>Contact me</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Introduction</div> <div> My name is Gary Peskin. I started this site because I wanted to <B>share what I've learned </B>in working with Java under OS/390. I've searched the <A HREF="id4_websites.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>web</U></A> and <A HREF="id4_newsgroups.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>newsgroups</U></A> trying to find information about Java under OS/390 but it's been scattered and mixed in with other interesting, but not always helpful, information. The idea of this site is to collect, in one place, all of the relevant information for effective development with Java on OS/390. This site is not a primer on Java or on OS/390. I'll try to place some of those sites on the <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>links</U></A> page.</div> <bR> <div> Much of my knowledge has come from <B>trial and error</B> and I've recorded it here as a reference for you and for me. I hope that lots of people will visit this site and <A HREF="mailto:garyp@firstech.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:garyp@firstech.com"><U>send me their thoughts</U></A> and discoveries so that we can be a <B>clearinghouse</B> for this sort of information. I don't pretend to be the world's foremost expert on OS/390 or Java and I don't guaranty that everything on this web site is 100% accurate. This is information that I've gleaned from my experience and the way that I describe things here works for me <B>right now</B>. Please let me know if something needs correcting, adjusting, or just another way of looking at it.</div> <bR> <div> I hope that this web site will grow substantially over time. I am depending on your contributions and your feedback to add content that you find helpful.</div> <bR> <div> There are lots of permutations of OS/390 and Java so things that work in one environment may not work in another.  I've also done quite a lot of work using <A HREF="http://www-3.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/zos_os390/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www-3.ibm.com/software/webservers"><U><B>WebSphere Application Server for z/OS and OS/390</B></U></A>.  I'll include that information as well.</div> <bR> <div> My current interest is in combining Java with existing COBOL and Assembler programs to leverage the existing code which (a) works and (b) contains lots of business rules upon which an enterprise depends. In many cases, the existing code is the <B>only</B> place where these rules reside. They've been in place so long that <B>no one left in the organization</B> really can articulate the rules any more. However, the organization continues to implicitly rely on these rules.</div> <bR> <div> I think that too many new developers unwisely ignore the enormous value in the existing code. In this age of constant rebooting on the desktop, <B>not enough value</B> is given to systems which have stood the test of time and proven themselves as mission-critical systems on which an organization can depend. Just because things are old doesn't mean that they are useless or worse than something which is newer.</div> <bR> <div> In addition, the reliability and servicability of the mainframe is unmatched by other platforms.  IBM has done an excellent job in capturing information needed to fix defects, both in user code and in IBM code.  This has <B>steadily improved </B>with each release of the JVM and WAS. </div> <bR> <div> I'm a member of IBM's <A HREF="http://www.developer.ibm.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.developer.ibm.com"><U>PartnerWorld for Developers</U></A> and Sun's <A HREF="http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/"><U>Java Developer Connection</U></A>. Also, this site is an IBM affiliate and we earn a small commission if you buy certain IBM products through links on this site. Other than that, I don't have any connection to IBM or Sun except as a user of their tools.</div> <bR> <div> I <A HREF="mailto:garyp@firstech.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:garyp@firstech.com"><U>welcome all comments</U></A> on this site, including what you think of the site organization, readability of the type face, and anything else.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>