BKUNMVPR.RVW 960909 "UNIX for MVS Programmers", Harry Singh, 1997, 0-13-442989-3 %A Harry Singh %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1997 %G 0-13-442989-3 %I Prentice Hall %O +1-201-236-7139 fax: +1-201-236-7131 beth_hespe@prenhall.com %P 338 %T "UNIX for MVS Programmers" Dealing with IBM mainframers is a bit like dealing with Mac fanatics. "What's the file called?" "`File'?" "Yeah, you know, file. Collection of bits or bytes, has a filename, usually either contains information or instruction for the computer." "Oh, you mean the *data set*!" [SFX grinding teeth.] Computers are computers the world over, but IBM has a jargon all its own, and proceeds in supreme confidence that IBM is right, and that the rest of the world cannot communicate. Therefore, MVS programmers *do* have all the conceptual knowledge they need to run a real operating system, such as UNIX, but they need to be taught the right words. A book that does this would be a great help. Singh hasn't produced such a book. What we have here, is a fairly standard introduction to UNIX that occasionally mentions MVS programs and terms. The UNIX is generally mentioned, described, and explained first, with an added afterthought about the related MVS command. There are tables of equivalent commands which would have been very helpful if said tables had not been structured so that you had to know the UNIX command in order to find the corresponding MVS command. MVS people *could* use this book to learn UNIX, but it definitely doesn't use their existing conceptual knowledge. Anyone knowing MVS would find the UNIX man pages equally helpful. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKUNMVPR.RVW 960909 ============= Vancouver roberts@decus.ca | "If a train station Institute for rslade@vanisl.decus.ca | is where a train Research into rslade@vcn.bc.ca | stops, what happens User Rob_Slade@mindlink.bc.ca | at a workstation?" Security Canada V7K 2G6 | Frederick Wheeler