| Course Code: |
RT 441 |
| Course Abstract: |
This course is designed for programmers intending to learn REXX in the z/OS MVS environment. Participants will study the REXX interpreter as a basis for understanding techniques for writing efficient and readable REXX code. Templates, tracing, and interpreting will be reviewed. Generic built-in functions will be reviewed. During laboratory experiments, participants will test REXX in a variety of commonplace application scenarios. Participants will learn how to create their own subroutines and functions. Terminal output will be trapped from z/OS MVS and TSO/E. Techniques will be presented to manage the program stack. z/OS MVS file I/O programs written in REXX will be scrutinized and tested in laboratory experiments. During the course participants will also gain an increased awareness of the z/OS MVS environment, and will have opportunities to submit z/OS TSO/E REXX execs to the batch processor for background execution. Advanced templating, tracing, and interpreting will be reviewed. The z/OS TSO/E REXX compiler will be deployed if it is available at the site. Various options of data conversion will be reviewed. During laboratory experiments the TSO/E search order will be controlled using the ALTLIB and EXECUTIL z/OS TSO/E REXX commands. Full screen panels will provide front ends to z/OS TSO/E REXX execs via the interface with the ISPF Dialog Manager. z/OS MVS file I/O and ISPF Edit macros written in REXX will be scrutinized and tested in laboratory experiments. |
| Audience: |
This course is intended for all programmers intending to master the REXX language on the z/OS MVS platform, as well as for those mature z/OS TSO/E REXX programmers who are already comfortable with z/OS TSO/E REXX and who intend to take their knowledge and experience of z/OS TSO/E REXX to the next level. |
| Duration: |
5 days |
| Learning Outcomes: |
Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:
>Write efficient, readable REXX code
>Choose between various REXX templates for parsing
>Exploit INTERPRET and interactive debug TRACE
>Create their own built-in REXX functions
>Trap console output from z/OS MVS and TSO/E
>Effectively manage the program stack
>Read, write, and update z/OS MVS datasets
>Submit z/OS TSO/E REXX execs to z/OS MVS batch processor
>Compile z/OS TSO/E REXX execs
>Convert data from one type to another
>Command the search order with ALTLIB and EXECUTIL
>Provide ISPF panel front ends to z/OS TSO/E REXX execs
>Create ISPF Edit macros |
| Course Topics: |
REXX code
REXX templates for parsing
Built-in REXX functions
Trap console output from z/OS MVS and TSO/E
Program stack
z/OS MVS datasets
z/OS TSO/E REXX execs to z/OS MVS batch processor
z/OS TSO/E REXX execs
ISPF Edit macros |
| Prerequisites: |
Familiarity with TSO/E, ISPF, and ISPF Editor is required. Experience with JCL and the ISPF Dialog Manager would be beneficial but is not required. |