Informative Papers for VM*
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*VM refers to the IBM VM/CMS mainframe operating system
Price list for VM informative papers
Prices are subject to change at any time, without notice.
Ordering instructions
- If you are reordering a document, do not pay the first copy price again.
- The Enterprise license gives you the rights, for use
within your enterprise only, to:
- make hard copies yourself and
- post an electronic version.
If you buy the Enterprise license and would like an electronic version
of the document specify what formats you prefer, ie. DCF, HTML,
Lotus Wordpro, Word Perfect, etc.
We will try to provide at least one format that meets your needs.
- See how to order.
About the documents
Let us know of any other documents you would like us to write.
Check back or send us an e-mail so we can notify you when we
publish new papers.
Below are descriptions of the short, white papers.
These papers explain simple, yet powerful concepts that can save
your company much time and expense.
They are easy to read and understand.
They are written for managers, users and programmers.
Let me tell you a story.
Two men had a machine in a box.
One day the machine, which was vital to their business, stopped working.
The two men looked everywhere, but could not find anyone to fix their
machine.
After a long search they came to an engineer.
The two men asked, "Can you fix our machine?"
The engineer looked thoughtfully as he turned the box around.
Finally the engineer took out a small hammer, and tapped
on the machine.
The machine started.
The two men were thrilled.
They said, "That's amazing. We looked everywhere, but you were the
only one who could fix it. How much do we owe?"
The engineer said, "That'll be $2,000."
The two men were surprised, "$2,000! Isn't that a
lot for tapping on a box?"
The engineer said, "Pardon me. Let me write out
my bill for you," and he wrote "Tapping on the machine ... $5.
Knowing where to tap ... $1,995."
These papers distill years of experience and countless,
esoteric, technical manuals into a few pages of the
key concepts that will benefit you the most.
Their value lies in their brevity as much as their details.
These papers tell you where to tap.
You will find these documents of great value.
The ideas will help you improve quality and save much
time and expense over the long run.
If you do not find a document of value,
we will refund your document fee.
We want you to be a happy customer.
10 Easy Ways to Evaluate Rexx Code
This is a must read for programmers and their managers to
improve code quality.
No training required.
Just read the document and follow the simple, insightful rules.
Your benefits:
- Save untold costs
- Programmer interchangeability
- Minimize bugs
- Code that is easier to maintain, enhance and reuse
This document gives managers and programmers specific, easily
measurable criteria for evaluating Rexx source code.
The document comes with a report card and scoring system so
you can grade each program with a point total.
This allows you to measure and track progress.
Managers can follow the simple instructions in this document to
check the code their programmers write and evaluate their performance.
Using this document, Managers can look at source code and understand why
some programmers can make enhancements in minutes while others take days.
Managers, don't fly in the dark without instruments.
Use this tool to get a handle on what your programmers are doing.
Programmers can use this document to check their code and
improve their skills.
Programmers that are already following these techniques can use this
document to explain to others how quality is built into their code.
Senior programmers can use this document to train junior programmers.
Programming teams can use this document as a starting point for
developing programming guidelines.
Do not write or pay for another line of code
without reading this document.
End sloppy software.
Apply these principles to any programming language.
Help for Xedit Beginners
Everything non-technical, Xedit users need to know is packed
into these six pages.
This is the quickest, most painless way to get the most out
of Xedit.
One page of the 32 most common "How to ...", from "How to
add lines" to "How to search for information" to "How to view
a list of files."
Two pages of examples with commands for the prefix area,
navigation, data manipulation, search and CMS.
A one sheet, two-sided pull out quick reference, with just
about every command one would ever use under normal circumstances.
Perfect for keeping handy when using Xedit.
Xedit is used so frequently on VM that taking a few moments
to improve one's skills will pay large dividends in productivity.
We recommend you distribute this document to everyone of your Xedit users.
They will use it all the time.
You will need to order the enterprise license.
50 Tips for Using Xedit
Just what you and your users need to become more productive.
Accomplish more in less time with these simple, powerful
techniques.
25 general tips like these:
- Think of the screen as a movable window
- Understand the use of the current line
- To go to a specific line number ...
- To place a bookmark ...
- To view columns in a customized order ...
- To delete a column ...
- To save yourself repetitive typing ...
- When the disk is full ...
15 tips for power searching like these:
- To find data starting in column 1 ...
- To find data anywhere in the file ...
- To only search in certain columns ...
- To find all matching lines ...
(our favorite technique for finding data)
- To export selected lines ...
- To change selected data ...
10 tips using Bronze productivity tools.
These tips require Bronze software.
If you purchase our Xedit tools,
we will deduct the price you paid for this document.
Also included is a one page, quick reference of
the most useful commands.
This document is a great tool for anyone that uses Xedit.
Even if you know everything there is about Xedit,
this document is perfect for helping you share that
information with your coworkers.
You will want the enterprise license.
How to Tell in Two Minutes If Your
System is Set Up Properly
This document is for managers and programmers.
There are two tests that take one minute each.
These tests will give you an idea of how well organized your
system is.
If you pass both tests, congratulations.
You can be sure you are off to a great start,
and are probably doing most, if not everything else great too.
Fail either test, and its time to get to work.
You're bound to be spinning your wheels and have
code lying around that is out of control.
If you are not doing these things, you need this document.
If you are doing these things, take this document to your
boss and show him or her how great you are.
How to Set Up a Simple, Cost Effective, Test Environment
This is the most effective way to migrate changes to production.
This system will give you peace of mind, saving you an enormous
amount of grief, not to mention time and money.
If you do not have a test and migration system, you need one.
Assuming you do have a test system,
you probably do not have a migration system.
If you do not know what a migration system is, you need to
order this document.
If you have implemented your test system in one of these ways
you need to order this document.
- Do you have a stand-alone test system?
Do you test new code over there and when ready,
move it to production?
If so, not good.
- Do you put new code on a test disk which your developers
link in before the production disk?
To test, do you tell your testers to link the test disk?
Maybe tell them to EXEC GETTEST or something like that?
After testing do you move the new code to your production disk?
If so, not good.
Neither of the above approaches includes a migration system.
What you need is a test and migration system that:
- Thoroughly tests all commonly used features
- Keeps the effort and cost to test the code to a minimum
- Tests the features in the same environment as production
- Catches and fixes all problems (except the most obscure ones)
before they affect users
- Moves changes from development to test to production in
a simple manner
- Migrates changes to production users in stages,
migrating only a few users at first
- Minimizes the impact of problems when they do occur
- Activates and deactivates changes in seconds
- Lets you implement changes during normal working hours
If your users ever experience problems,
you need this document.
To implement a test and migration system with minimal effort,
use our
Test and Migration System software.
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