Preface

Since approximately 1980, I worked many times with the Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) (a subsystem of z/OS driven by TSO) during my activities as external advisor, programmer and lecturer in the IBM host. As the name already says, this sub-system is designed to help users in the IBM Mainframe host environment to develop a higher productivity in IBM z/OS. I can promise you, ISPF fulfils this task very well.

As soon as I was more familiar with ISPF and so had outgrown to the beginners stage, the desire emerged in me to automate and accelerate some recurring operational sequences if possible. I have looked around myself on the book market which book can support me with the realization of the desire on a high level. However, I found no book, which would be suitable.

Since I developed at home and abroad a set of procedures and programs during my lecturer, adviser and programming activities in different enterprises, which often brought me substantial accelerations of my work in z/OS, I decided to publish my experiences in handling ISPF as well as the developed programs in this book. This program collection is SMART ISPF UTILITIES called. The procedures and programs described in this book can be from internet downloaded.

The intention of this book is to support you to become a professional in handling ISPF. Since the knowledge in the ISPF, with which you as a reader approach this book however are surely very different, constructed the book modular. Thus, you can use the book either as a pure textbook or as a manual for your daily work. Many cross references as well as an extensive index supports you in the navigation within the book. I developed some parts of the material in the last twenty years during my practical work at customers’ sites, and I used these parts for my daily work. That means that the procedures described here are in practice established during my work with ISPF since many years.

This book will support you to reach your full potential in using ISPF as an application programmer, a system programmer or another z/OS-ISPF user. You will learn how you use the ISPF system and its subsystems to perform professional operation within z/OS. Additionally you can enhance your programming skills by referencing the programs of SMART ISPF UTILITIES available on internet, in order to become a skillful ISPF genuine power user.