z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler & Emulator

z390 PTF v1.5.01e now supports VSAM alternate indexes

2010-07-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

z390 v1.5.01e now supports the creataion of alternate indexes using REPRO and also supports sequential access by alternate key via use of PATH defined in catalog. For more information visit www.z390.org.

z390 new mainfrarme compatible sort

2010-02-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

The latest update to z390 v1.5.01c now has new open source mainframe compatible sort utility which uses the familiar SORTIN, SORTOUT, and SYSIN control file with SORT FIELDS+(...) supporting 7 standard key field types. Sort work files SORTWK01 and SORTWK02 are dynamically allocated if needed for merge. Regression tests are included with new sort. A 1,000,000 records can be sorted in less than 30 seconds on a 3 GHZ Dell with Windows or Linux. For more information visit this page on the new sort:

www.z390.org/z390_ZSORT_Internal_Sort_Utility.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net
www.z390.org

New COBOL, Assembler, and EXEC CICS source code exectuion trace facility

2009-10-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

With the release of z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler and zcobol Portable Mainframe COBOL PTF v1.5.01a, there is now a new utility named ZPARTRS which can be used to generate COBOL, Assembler and EXEC CICS source code execution traces. The utility is documented on www.zpar.org and there are 4 examples with PDF source code, traces, and screen captures for COBOL, Assembler, smf EXEC CICS source code transaction traces. The utility includes options for including or excluding selected modules from trace plus option for including detail execution trace showing values for instruction operands as well as source code labels and comments. There are also options to include or exclude time stamps, messages such as WTO, traces, or errors.

For example see how a 1.5 MB EXEC CICS z390 exeution TRE trace file (similar to GTF trace) can be transformed into a 3 page COBOL and EXEC CICS source statement trace for specific COBOL transaction module TESTBEC1.CBL using ZPARTRS utility. Here is the EXEC CICS COBOL source transaction program:

http://www.zpar.org/TESTBEC1_CBL.pdf

Here is the source only trace with COBOL line numbers:

http://www.zpar.org/ZPARTRS_CICS_TESTBEC1_CBL.pdf

Here is alternate COBOL source and generated assembler source trace:

http://www.zpar.org/ZPARTRS_CICS_TESTBEC1_CBL_ASM.pdf

And here is the CICS TN3270 screen capture for the executed transaction BEC1:

http://www.zpar.org/ZPARTRS_CICS_TESTBEC1_SCREEN.pdf

These and similar links for 3 othere demos can be found on www.zpar.org. The COBOL source and assembler type traces provide excellent learning tool to see what kind of mainframe z9/z10 assembler code is generated for a specific COBOL statement. For example the COBOL Hello World demo program consisting of DISPLAY 'Hellow World" and STOP RUN, generates exactly 5 assembler instructions in the procedure division as shown here:

http://www.zpar.org/ZPARTRC_HELLO_CBL_ASM.pdf

Of course this does not inlude the 29 initialization instructions generated for every zcobol
program to load the zcobol runtime load module and verify version. Hee is alternative trace of the same COBOL program with DETAIL option which forces COBOL and assembler source plus execution detail line showing values of instruction operands for all instructions including the standard initializtion instructions which were skipped in prior trace:

http://www.zpar.org/ZPARTRC_HELLO_CBL_DETAIL.pdf

z390 v1.5.01a PTF can be downloaded from www.z390.org with InstallShield for Windows and file image for Linux. This PTF has been regression tested on Windows Vista, XP, and Ubuntu 8.o4 LTS Linux. The pre-requisites are z390 v1.5.01 base install and J2SE 1.6+. For more details on the enhancements and fixes in this PTF visit:

http://www.z390.org/z390_Download_Archive.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

new z390 webpage www.z390.org/java to display java version installed on Windows or Linux

2009-09-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

A new z390 webpage www.z390.org/java has been published to display java version installed on Windows or Linux with any web browser.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 and zcobol v1.5.01 with CODEPAGE and more new zcobol NIST COBOL test suite results

2009-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

z390 and zcobol full release v.1.5.01 is now available for download and install using InstallShield for Windows from www.z390.org. This release includes new Unicode codepage support for ASCII and EBCDIC codepages compatible with z/OS. The zcobol compiler now compiles 408 of the NIST COBOL 1985 COBOL test suite programs with no hard assembler errors and MNOTE level 8 messages for those features not yet supported. See the latest NIST test statistics here:

http://www.zcobol.org/zcobol_NIST_COBOL_1985_Test_Results.htm

The above page also contains new ZPAR frequency distribution report examples showing the COBOL macro calls generated by the zcobol zc390 translation program and also another frequency distribution report showing the generated 390 opcodes in the generated HLASM source code produced by the zcobol compiler.

This release also includes zCICS v8 support which includes 13 EXEC CICS COBOL programs you can compile and execute on Windows or Linux using z390 and zcobol.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

zcobol updated summary and new opcode frequency reports

2009-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

The www.zcobol.org website has been updated with new zcobol NIST Test Suite Results:

http://www.zcobol.org/zcobol_NIST_COBOL_1985_Test_Results.htm

The upcoming z390/zcobol full release v1.5.01 successfully translates and assembles 409 NIST test suite COBOL programs with no hard assembly errors and just MNOTE's identifying as yet unsupported features. Two new www.zpar.org reports have been added: The first shows the frequency distribution of translated macro call statements, and the second shows the frequency of all generated HLASM Basic Assembler Language (BAL) instructions.

Also included is a current pending priority list for future zcobol development. All users interested in participating should join the zcobol email group where you can submit your own priority list. In addition to the current HLASM target language enviroment, there are also plans to develop additional sets of zcobol code generation macros for Java, C, and Intel MASM.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

See current NIST COBOL test results for zcobol using ZPAR report

2009-07-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

A new ZPAR report ZPARSUM2 now automatically generates summary of all NIST COBOL 1985 test programs translated, assembled, and executed using test version of zcobol v1.5.01.
The summary report is on the www.zcobol.org site here:

http://www.zcobol.org/#zcobol_NIST_Test_Results

457 out of the total 459 translate cleanly from COBOL source to HLASM compatible source. But there is still much work to do to get all 457 assembled without errors and then executed cleanly.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 PTF v1500e now contains ZPAR utilities including source line execution trace

2009-06-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

The latest z390 and zcobol PTF v1.5.00e contains new ZPAR utilities which are documented on www.zpar.org and includes:

1. ZPARGEN for batch compile of COBOL and assembler programs

2. ZPARERR summary report of all errors from batch compiles and/or assemblies. See example of latest compile results for 430 of the COBOL 1985 ANSI NIST test suite on www.zcobol.org

3. ZPARTRS trace program source statement execution for zcobol or z390 assembler program.

The latest z390 PTF with zcobol and ZPAR utilities is available from www.z390.org

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 znd zcobol now support Decimal Floating Point (DFP)

2009-04-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

zcobol v1.5.00b now supports ANSI/ISO 754 Decimal Floating Point (DFP) plus ANSI/ISO 754 Binary Floating Point (BFP) .

zcobol supports the new explicit COBOL USAGE types defined in the draft COBOL 2008 standard: FLOAT-DECIMAL-7, FLOAT-DECIMAL-16, FLOAT- DECIMAL-34, FLOAT-BINARY-7, FLOAT-BINARY-16, FLOAT-BINARY-34. In addition the IBM mainframe default standard Hexadecimal Floating Point (HFP) is supported using FLOAT-HEX-7, FLOAT-HEX-15, and FLOAT-HEX-30. The COBOL 2002 standard generic floating point usage types FLOAT-SHORT, FLOAT-LONG, and FLOAT-EXTENDED default to DFP, but can be reassigned to any of the 3 types using zcobol option FLOAT(HEX), FLOAT(BINARY), or the default FLOAT(DECIMAL). The default for COMP-1 and COMP-2 in zcobol is HFP for IBM mainframe compatibility.

In addition to the floating point extended data types, zcobol now also supports the following COMP fields: half word S9(4), full word S9(9), double word S9(18), and quad word S9(39) and also packed decimal and zoned decimal up to S9(31).

The zcobol verbs MOVE, ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, IF, and DISPLAY support the above data types in any combination. zcobol generates HLASM IBM mainframe compatible code which can be run at native speed on IBM z9/z10 mainframes or the code can be compiled, linked, and executed on any J2SE platform including Windows and Linux using z390. The InstallShield download for z390 and zcobol which is open source is available on www.z390.org. For more information on zcobol visit www.zcobol.org. The download includes demos and new regression tests for the new data types.
The demo zcobol\demo\powers.cbl displays powers of 2 up to 126 using the new COMP S9(39) 128 bit integer support. The 3 regression tests zcobol\test\TESTHFP1.CBL, TESTBFP1, and TESTDFP1 using FLOAT(HEX), FLOAT(BINARY), and the default FLOAT(DECIMAL) respectively illustrate the new floating point code generation and execution capabilities.

Finally you can define a decimal floating point fraction such as 0.1 in COBOL and have it result in exactly 0.1000000 using DFP short versus 0.09999999 for HFP or BFP short due to irrational result in base 2 versus base 10.

Don Higgins
don@higginse.net
don-higgins.net

z390 v1.5.00 with zcobol now available for download

2009-02-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

On 02/21/09 the first release of zcobol was published as part of z390 release v1.5.00 which you can download from www.z390.org. All the documentation for zcobol is now on www.zcobol.org.

This first release includes demos, regression tests, and EXEC CICS COBOL programs which you can compile, link, and execution on any J2SE platform including Windows and Linux. The generated HLASM compatible source and object code can also be ported to run at native speed on mainframe a9/z10 processors. The generated HLASM compatible source code includes all data labels and paragraph labels and utilizes the latest z9/z10 instruction set to optimize generated code including support for 64 bit register instructions such as LG and DSG plus baseless procedure division code using relative branch instructions.

I hope folks will try it out this week and then come to SHARE session 8194 on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 8 AM in Austin TX to learn more. Melvyn Maltz, the zcobol EXEC CICS support developer and I will be there to present z390 and zcobol and answer questions. If there is enough interest, we could try and schedule a BOF Tuesday evening.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net
don-higgins.net

zcobol Portable Mainframe COBOL Compiler www.zcobol.org

2008-12-30T02:33:00.000-08:00

Come to SHARE session 8194 on what's new with z390 scheduled for Tuesday, March 3, 2009 in Austin, TX 8:00 AM to learn about a new z390 open source structured conditional macro assembler based tool - zcobol portable mainframe COBOL compiler. The new zcobol compiler supports multiple COBOL dialects such as IBM Enterprise COBOL Micro Focus COBOL, and has options to generate any one of several target language executable programs. The current target languages include HLASM compatible mainframe assembler for IBM z9/z10 processors, Java for any J2SE platform, C++ for any Windows platform, or HLA/MASM assembler for any Intel platform. The initial open source zcobol tool release included with z390 starting March 3, 2009 will primarily focus on compiling COBOL to HLASM compatible mainframe assembler that can be run using z390 on any J2SE platform or can be ported to z9/z10 for native mainframe speed. The zcobol compile generates intermediate target language source code which includes all the COBOL data names and paragraph names for use in debugging when required. Debugging options include paragraph trace, macro expansion trace, and execution trace The generated code includes support for static and dynamic linking of both COBOL and assembler programs and supports EXEC CICS and SOA extensions for SEND/RECEIVE.

To learn more about zcobol and get the latest updates visit http://www.zcobol.org join the zcobol user discussion group, and come to SHARE.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

Never code another unconditional branch in macro or assembler code

2008-09-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

With the availability of both Structured Programing Extension (SPE's) for conditional macro code and Structured Programming Macros (SPM's) for assembler code, there is no reason to ever code another unconditional branch again! The z390 SPE and SPM support is free, and the benefits are easier to read and maintain code resulting in higher quality code and less cost to maintain the code. For more details on SPE's and SPM's visit:

http://www.z390.org/z390_ZSTRMAC_Structured_Macro_Support.htm

z390 v1403b now includes the follow SPE's supported by the mz390 macro processor:

* AIF, AELSEIF, AELSE, AEND - alternate selection
* AWHILE, AEXIT, AEND - iteration
* AUNTIL, AEXIT, AEND - iteration
* ACASE, AWHEN, AELSE, AEXIT, AEND - multiple selection using branch table
* ACALL, AENTRY, AEXIT, AEND - perform block of code and return

z390 v1403b now includes the following SPM's written in structured macro code using SPE's:

* IF, ELSEIF, ELSE, ENDIF - alternate selection
* DO, ENDDO - iteration
* SELECT, WHEN, OTHRWISE, ENDSEL - multiple compare selection
* CASENTRY, CASE, ENDCASE - branch table selection
* PM, PENTRY, PEXIT - perform block of code and return

There is also a translator included to translate the structured SPM macros to standard HLASM for use on systems which do not yet support the SPE's in the macro processor. The structured macros can be viewed in the ptf\z390\mac directory and the translated standard versions can be viewed in the ptf\z390\mac\spm directory in the following z390 PTF zip file for v1403b:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/z390/z390_v1403b_ptf.zip

I believe most mainframe assembler developers are in favor of structured programming, but some are equally opposed ot it. Either way, your comments, suggestions, enhancement requests, and bug reports are welcome.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

ZSTRMAC SPE and SPM Updates on www.z390.org

2008-09-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

The z390 ZSTRMAC Structured Programming Extensions (SPE's) and the Structured Programming Macros (SPM'S) have been updated in z390 v1.4.03a which is now available.
The SPE ASELECT has been replaced with ACASE for more consistency with HLASM SPM's as suggested by Ed Jaffe. Also the SPE APM has been replaced with ACALL for more readability. The z390 ZSTRMAC SPE and SPM documentation web page has been updated here:

http://www.z390.org/z390_ZSTRMAC_Structured_Macro_Support.htm

This page now inlcudes links to updated source program utilities and regression tests, SHARE presentations, and the original 1977 public domain SHARE SPLA CBT tape #177 from which the z390 current SPM's were derived.

Note the above web page and all z390 web pages have moved from z390.sourceforge.net to www.z390.org following sourceforge.net server moves last week after which I could not get my web update using WinSCP SFTP/RSS to work. I am working to get redirection link on the old site and get the old pages removed. The z390 project remains on sourceforge.net here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/z390/

And the "Summary", "Website" link has been updated to point to www.z390.org. Also download links continue to point to sourceforge.net download servers.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 v1.4.03 now has integrated ZSTRMAC Support

2008-09-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

All

z390 V1.4.03 now has integrated support for the new ZSTRMAC structured programming extensions for conditional macro assembler. So open code and macros can now be assembled and executed without translation using the extensions such as AIF, AELSEIF, AELSE, AEND AENTRY, AEXIT, APM, ASELECT, AUNTIL, AWHEN, and AWHILE.

For a few actual examples see the utilities in linklib named RTGENDIR.MLC, RTGENCMP.MLC< and RTGENDIF.MLC which all use ZSTRMAC extensions now to eliminate the need for any AGO or macro labels. These utilities are used in regression testing to compare all the files in two directories and list just those files which have differences and also show file totals.

Just for fun the very old demo DEMOM8Q1.MLC has also been rewritten as DEMOM8Q1.ZSM using the ZSTRMAC extensions to remove all AGO and macro labels. It can be run on v1.4.03 using the command: mac demo\DEMOM8Q1.ZSM

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 ZSTRMAC Structured Conditional Macro Code Translator

2008-08-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

The lastest z390 PTF v1.4.02e has a new open source translator to support structured programming extensions for mainframe conditional macro assembler coding. The extensions include:

1. AIF, AELSEIF, AELSE, AEND - for alternate selection of macro code blocks

2. AWHILE, AUNTIL, AEXIT, AEND - for repetition of macro code blocks

3. ASELECT, AWHEN, AELSE, AEXIT, AEND for selection of macro code block based on index

4. APM, AENTRY, AEXIT, AEND - for performing labeled macro code block.

The source for the translator including both bootstrap version and structured version can be found along with test programs on this web page:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_ZSTRMAC_Structured_Macro_Support.htm

The next full release of z390 v1.4.03 will have these extensions built into the macro processor so translation as a separate step is not required.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 full release v1.4.02 with CICS compatible support for BMS plus

2008-07-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

On June 30, 2008 z390 full release v1.4.02 was published with InstallShield for Windows and file image for Linux. This release has EXEC CICS compatible V5 support for BMS Basic Mapping Support plus the new SOA COBOL client application generation support using standard EZASOKET interface. Also this release has numerous HLASM and z9/z10 mainframe compatibility enhancements including HFP unnormalized instruction support.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net
http://don-higgins.net

Higher precision timestamps for COBOL and Assembler performance measurement

2008-06-05T07:57:00.001-07:00

Recently new higher precision timestamp support for use in COBOL and z390 assembler applicaitons has been added. Functions are available to obtain interval timing in nanoseconds or microseconds. For more information, visit new web page documenting timestamp support:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_Standard_Timestamp_Support.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 SOA Support for COBOL calling z390 Assembler using EZASOKET interface

2008-05-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Starting with z390 PTF v1.4.01e, z390 now supports COBOL calling z390 assembler using the IBM standard EZASOKET interface. For demo with source code and screen shot using Micro Focus COBOL calling z390 running on Windows Vista visit:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_SOA_Support_for_COBOL_and_Assembler.htm

This same interface can in theory be used with COBOL running on any platform including mainframes and Linux connected to z390 SOA server running on any platform supporting J2SE Java connected to the same TCP/IP network.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

Optimizing COBOL generated mainframe assembler

2008-04-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

To aid in analyzing mainframe COBOL programs a new z390 COBOL Portable Assembler option has been added in z390 PTF v1.4.01b. With this option installed, you can convert Enterprise COBOL or COBOL for OS/390 generated assembler listings into z390 assembler source programs which can be assembled, linked, and executed specifying starting and ending line numbers in order to unit test or benchmark specific generated code or supported COBOL statements with called functions. In this initial release only DISPLAY and STOP RUN function calls are supported, but requests for additional functions are welcome. Support for COBOL/370, COBOL for MVS, and VS COBOL II are also in development. For example generation and execution of DISPLAY and STOP RUN demo, install z390 v1.4.01, v1.4.01b PTF, and then enter the command cobol\paos\OSDEMO1. For additional information on this new option visit:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_COBOLSupport.htm

Suggestions on how to make this new option more useful for unit testing and benchmarking COBOL code running on Windows or Linux are welcome. Sample COBOL generated assembler listings along with requests for additional function call support are also welcome.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

Why is a slower MIP rate with new z10 instructions better?

2008-03-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

All

Why is a slower MIP rate with new z10 instructions better? The answer based on the initial results of problem #18 solution posted today on the ZMFACC Mainframe Assembler Coding Contest would appear to be that by using the new compare and branch instruction for z10 replacing 2 separate compare and branch on condition instructions results in a lower MIP rate but a faster execution time. Even though the MIP rate is lower, there are fewer instructions required to do the same work, and the elapsed time required is less. For the solution posted, the MIP rate using z390 on Intel Duo Core 2.1 GHZ processor dropped from 8.7 to 7.3 MIPS or 15%but the elapsed time also dropped from 343 ms to 271 ms or an 8% reduction in elapsed time. To see the source code and execution log output for this solution plus new problem #19 posting visit:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_Mainframe_Assemble_Coding_Contest.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 with 11 new ASSIST and 226 new z10 instructions

2008-03-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

You never know what will happen at SHARE. This year SHARE started several new ventures for the z390 project resulting in the release of v1.4.01 today with the following major additions:

1. The ASSIST instructions for simplifying assembler program I/O have been added at the request of Northern Illinois University for use by students in their computer science classes. After installation of z390 v1.4.01 enter the command ASSIST assist\DEMOAST1 for demo.

2. Following IBM's announcement of a new z10 mainframe on February 26 during SHARE, a total of 226 new z10 instructions have been added to z390 for use by students learning about the z10 and for developers wanting unit test code before implementing on the new z10 processors. The new z10 instructions include:

a. Compare and branch - based on z390 testing these appear to be 15% faster than the equivalent compare followed by branch on condition instructions.

b. Move with optional specifications - this instruction which was previously implemented based on preliminary information released at SHARE has been expanded to support lengths greater than 4k.

c. The new translate and test extended instructions now support forword and backward translation for any length with 4 different translate table sizes 256, 512, 64k, and 128k.

d. The new rotate and select bits intructions have been implemented along with an improvement in the speed for existing RLL and RLLG rotate instructions which now use new more efficient shared rotate functions.

Since the new z10 instructions did not include the SQXTR extended decimal floating point square root instructions, the first proto-type millicode z390 version of this instruction has been implemented. To see how SQXTR instruction works, see the DFP solution to the standard deviation contest problem #12. To run the program, enter the command ASMLG mfacc\P12DSH3 after installation of z390 v1.4.01. Also see ZMFACC Mainframe Assembler Coding Contest problem #18 requiring benchmark program for compare and branch on the new z10 mainframe:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_Mainframe_Assemble_Coding_Contest.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

Come to SHARE Session 8194 Feb. 25, 2008 to learn about z390 VSAM and CICS support

2008-02-11T04:06:00.000-08:00

Come to the Disney World Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando Florida on February 25, 2008 and attend SHARE Session 8194 at 4:30 in Coronado E for update on z390 VSAM and CICS support. Speakers will include Melvyn Maltz and Don Higgins. Melvyn will provide update on EXEC CICS V4 compatible support including multiple TN3270 clients on TCP/IP network and browse support for ESDS, RRDS, and KSDS VSAM files. Don will provide overview of the z390 portable mainframe assembler and emulator plus update on VSAM externals and internals including KSDS insert support using AVL balanced trees for maximum performance. For more information on SHARE in Orlando and Session 894 visit:

http://share.org/events/Orlando/index.cfm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 Mainframe Assembler Coding Contest

2007-12-12T09:37:00.001-08:00

Checkout the new z390 mainframe assembler coding problems and submitted solutions here:

http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_Mainframe_Assemble_Coding_Contest.htm

You can join the growing group of participants and submit as many problems and solutions as your like.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 source and downloads now on sourceforge.net

2007-10-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

The open source z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler and Emulator source and release downloads are now available from mirrorded z390 project site at

http://z390.sourceforge.net

The source is now in CVS form and can be browsed via the web here:

http://z390.cvs.sourceforge.net/z390/z390/

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

VSAM and CICS compatible support in z390 v1.3.08

2007-10-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

This week z390 v1.3.08 was published for download and install via InstallShield for Windows Vista and XP along with file image for Linux installs. This version has new VSAM support including ESDS, RRDS, VRRDS, and KSDS support for random and skip sequential access by primary key. Also in this release of z390 is V3 of CICS compatible support developed by Melvyn Maltz including new BED9 test transaction to create ESDS file and then CEBR transaction to browse the file forward and backword via PF7 and PF8 keys and toggle record formates between EBCDIC, ASCII, and hex using PF2 key.

All the documentation has updated with links from www.z390.org. Demo and regression tests are also included.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 SHARE Session Update

2007-08-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

z390 SHARE sessions have been held at the February and August 2007 conferences. Martin Trubner from Germany presented the last session in San Diego providing z390 user perspective. For more information visit:

www.automatedsoftwaretools.com/z390/SHARE_z390_Assembler_and_Emulator_Presentations.htm

Planning is now underway for z390 SHARE session in Orlando in February 2008 with both Don Higgins and Melvyn Maltz presenting updates on z390 support for VSAM and CICS. Plan to attend.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 new VSAM assembler application support

2007-08-25T04:15:00.000-07:00

Starting with version 1.3.07, z390 now supports VSAM assembler applications. The initial support includes ESDS files using macros for ACB, RPL, OPEN, CLOSE, GET, PUT, SHOWCB, TESTCB, and MODCB. A new utility REPRO written in structured macro assembler is included to load or unload VSAM file from/to QSAM file or another VSAM file. Fixed or variable length records up to 2 GB are supported. Demo application programs with fixed and variable length ESDS VSAM files are included. For more information visit:

http://www.automatedsoftwaretools.com/z390/z390_VSAM_Compatible_Assembler_Support.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 new CICS compatible transaction manager

2007-08-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

z390 version 1.3.05 now has a CICS compatible transaction manager V2 developed by Melvyn Maltz which supports EXEC CICS assembler programs. Commands supported include EXEC SEND, RECEIVE, LOAD, LINK, XCTL, RETURN, HANDLE, ABEND, PUSH, POP, RELEASE, GETMAIN, and FREEMAIN. A z390 CICS transaction manager server can support multiple local and remote TN3270 compatible clients connected over TCP/IP network. All of the code is open source. To start a server run z390\cics\z390cics.390 and to start a client run z390\cics\z390kcp with IP address of the server processor. To see an example, enter the transaction code GUI6 to start a conversational CICS transaction which displays several fields (name, address, zip) and supports updating fields plus PF1 help key and PF3 exit key. For more information visit:

http://www.automatedsoftwaretools.com/z390/z390_EXEC_CICS_Compatible_Assembler_Support.htm

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

How to speed up Java emulator by 50%

2007-06-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

z390 release v1.3.04 includes simple change to the pz390.java source to speed up the emulator
by 50% with new BCT loop speed of 1.6 MIPS on a 2.1 GHZ Intel dual core processor. The only change made was to split the primary and seconardary operation code switches into separate functions which results in smaller working set for the generated Java byte code. On cached pipeline processors this can dramatically improve performance.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

EXEC CICS compatible tranaction manager in z390 v1.3.04

2007-06-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

The latest z390 version v1.3.04 has new EXEC CICS compatible transaction manager contributed in open source z390 assembler contributed by Melvyn Maltz. This new tool supports multiple clients connected to server on a TCP/IP network. The initial release includes support for EXEC CICS SEND, RECEIVE, LOAD, LINK, XCTL, and RETURN commands and uses z390 GUAM TN3270 support for clients. Documentation and examples are included in the release stored in cics directory.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 SUPERZAP utility available in v1.3.03

2007-04-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

A new version of the old SUPERZAP file utility is available in z390 v1.3.03. This utility is distributed as open source as part of z390 and consists of about 850 lines of structured mainframe macro assembler. The utility supports the verification, replacement, and dumping of file contents in hex, ASCII, or EBCDIC. Files up to 2 GB on Windows or Linux are supported. Addition commands are supported to search for hex or text values and a loop command allows repeating search, verify, replace, and/or dump commands until verify fails or end of file is reached. For more information on this utility visit www.superzap.net.

This utility illustrates the power of structured mainframe assembler for use in utilities and applications running on not only on mainframes but also Windows and Linux platforms. SUPERZAP uses new extension in z390 v1.3.03 to set DCB record lengths up to 31 bits thus allowing utility to read or write an entire file up to 2 GB with a single GET or PUT.

SUPERZAP has been around as a mainframe utility from at least the early S/360 days for applying Private Temporary Fixes (PTF's) to operating system code. Today it is called SPZAP or AMASPZAP and is documented in the DFSMS Diagnosis Tools manual. See reference links on the www.superzap.net page.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 now supports VSE assembler programs

2007-03-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

With the release of z390 v1.3.02b PTF there is a new VSE macro library which maps VSE assembler macros into z390 MVS compatible macro code which can be assembled, linked, and executed on Windows, Linux, or any platform supporting z390 running on J2RE 1.5.0+.

Several demos and regression tests are include to illustrate the use of VSE marcros such as COMRG, GETTIME, CDLOAD, CDDELETE, GETVIS, FREEVIS, OPEN, DTFSD, DTFPR, GET, PUT, CLOSE, and EOF.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

SHARE Session 2845 z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler and Emulator

2007-02-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

SHARE was held in Tampa Florida during the past week, and I had the opportunity to present a session on the z390 Portable Mainframe Assembler and Emulator. One question from the session was whether z390 could be run on z Series machines using Linux/390. To date z390 has only been fully tested on Windows and Ubuntu Linux 6.06 LTS and J2RE 1.5.0_10. However since Ubuntu Linux and Linux/390 both conform to the new Linux Foundation core standard and since both support the J2RE 1.5 Java code base from Sun Microsystems, I see no reason why z390 should not run on Linux/390. Although it would be slower than native assembler of course, if the process is I/O bound, then speed may not be an issue. The potential benefit is to have assembler application code that is portable across both OS's and hardward platforms.

I attended several other sessions at the SHARE in Tampa and perhaps the most interesting for me was the session on Linux and Open Source by Jim Elliott with IBM Canada. He presented the results of a recent Gartner survey showing server growth statistics for different OS's. Linux growth was up 31%, Windows server growth was up 12%, Unix server growth was up 4% and all other servers were in decline by 22%. It seems to me that there is a clear message here about the future of Linux and other open source tools such as Java, Eclipse, and z390.

z390 Service Oriented Architecture Support

2007-01-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

With z390 PTF v1.2.00g new Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) support has been added. A new macro TCPIO and svc x'7c' now support TCP/IP sockets messaging. In addition a new SOA client server application generator macro facility has been added along with a demo application. The demo consists of a main proram and two called subroutines. As a base line, the demo can be assembled, statically linked, and executed. Then the SOAGEN macro facility can be used to generate client and server message managers plus stubs for each called serivce. See the new z390 Service Oriented Architecture User Guide here:

http://www.automatedsoftwaretools.com/z390/z390_Service_Oriented_Architecture_User_Guide.pdf

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 Supports new Decimal Floating Point (DFP) instructions

2006-12-25T03:45:00.000-08:00

The latest PTF update v1.2.00f for the z390 portable mainframe assembler now includes support for 57 new Decimal Floating Point (DFP) instructions. The z390 macro assembler now supports 3 new data types: ED for 7 digits, DD for 16 digits, and LD for 34 digits. These new instructions and data formats plus the z390 extended macros (CTD and CFD) for conversion to and from decimal scientific notation, enable assembler programs to perform decimal arithmetic with the same precision and ease as Excel without those annoying rounding errors that creep in when using hex HFP or binary BFP floating point. For example, the addition of 1.1 + 2.2 equals exactly 3.3 when using the new DFP instructions where as the result is 3.30......03 when using HFP or BFP due to the inexact conversion between base 10 and base 2. The PTF open source for z390 includes the pz390.java emulator code for these new instructions plus new regression test TESTDFP1.MLC with examples of each instruction.

z390 v1.2 now running on Linux as well as Windows

2006-11-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

With the release of z390 v1.2 there is now support for running z390 GUI and command line interfaces on Linux as well as Windows XP or 2000. Visit www.390.org for more details.

z390 version 1.2 also has new macro pseudo code generator for 300% improvment in macro intensive macro assembly processing. The macro pseudo code support also includes new
detail TRACEP option which shows value of every macro variable used in AIF, SETA, SETB, and SETC statements executed.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 Release 1.1.01 increases MIPS demo speed by 50%

2006-07-08T05:14:00.000-07:00

On July 7, 2006 the www.z390.org site published version 1.1.01 which has a significant performace improvement for the open source z390 J2SE Java runtime emulator which increased the speed of the www.mfatc.org MIPS calculation demo by over 50%. The speed increase was achieved by tuning the pz390 emulator code to use 4 smaller table switches to index opcodes instead of one 256 entry switch table for the primary opcode. A new version of the z390 instruction speed caculation contributed by Melvyn Maltz was also published so you can see individual z processor instruction speeds for z390 along with comparison to earlier base line speeds:

http://www.automatedsoftwaretools.com/z390/z390_Benchmark_Instruction_Timing.htm

www.mfatc.org now has 3 demos in HLASM, HLA, C++, COBOL, and Java

2006-07-03T02:03:00.000-07:00

The www.mfatc.org site now has 3 demos in HLASM, HLA, C++, COBOL, and Java which you can download, compile, and execute using free compilers and runtimes available for Windows 2000 and XP in InstallShield format. The demos currently include:

1. HELLO - Display "Hello World"

All 5 source versions only require 4-5 lines of souce code.

2. POWERS - Display powers of 2 from 0 to 31

All 5 demos use structured programming support to perform a loop which calculates and displays each power. The souce code sizes range from 9 lines for C++ to 23 lines for z390 mainframe assembler which does its own packed decimal text formatting for WTO.

3. MIPS - Calculate MIPS rating for simple loop decrementing 32 bit integer until 0

All 5 demos use structured programming support to perform a loop which decrements 32 bit integer until 0 and uses the difference in starting time versus ending time to calculate approximate millions of instructions per second. The lines of source code range from 28 for C++ to 70 for COBOL which required time and date record layouts. The initial results using a Dell 3.05 GHZ Pentium 4 processor running Windows XP are quite revealing:

1. z390 - 0.9 MIPS (This is the slowest due to overhead of mainframe instruction emulation written in Java which compiles to portable virtual machine code.)

2. HLA - 5840 MIPS (I'm amazed that HLA generated ASM code optimized to take maximum advantage of the Pentium 4 hardward pipelining can perform up to 2 instructions per clock cycle. HLA is definitely the language to use for optimizing code speed on Intel hardware.)

3. C++ - 776 MIPS (The ASM code generated by the Visual C++ Express compiler performs 6 instructions with 3 memory fetches resulting in the slower but still impressive MIP rating).

4. COBOL - 68 MIPS (The ASM code generated by the COBOL compiler performs 22 instructions per loop to convert BigIndian integer field in memory to Little Indian format in memory work area to perform decrement and then converts again to store and fetch for compare to zero resulting in the slower speed.)

5. Java - 1430 MIPS (The J2SE Java compiler generated a 4 instruction Java Virtual Macine loop and the J2SE runtime optimized its execution to out perform C++ by almost 2 to 1 which is very impressive).

Now I'm highly motivated to do further research on how to improve the z390 emulation performance and hope to include some initial improvements in the next z390 v1.1.01 release. However even 0.9 MIPS for mainframe execution on your Windows desktop is not bad. Some may remember that PC/370 started at 25,000 instructions per second on a 4 MHZ z80 chip and that was fast enough of a lot of I/O bound applications.

www.MFATC.org mainframe assembler, MASM, C++, COBOL, and Java comparisons

2006-06-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Mainframe assembler developers as well as other developers may find www.MFATC.org and its discussion group useful as it has a growing collection of coding examples in z390 mainframe assembler, MASM Intel assembler, C++, COBOL, and Java. The first example is a Hello World program in each language along with help information to download and install free software to run each example on Windows 2000 or XP.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 Enhancments - STIMER, Shared Routines

2006-04-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

Now that PTF v1.0.14a is published, I'm back working on the next set of enhancement requests including expanding STIMER support.

Another enhancement I would like to start working on is a shared subroutine library and a shared link library with common executable utilities. A few planned entries include common conversions such as floating point to scientific notation for printing, time of day displays, etc. Suggestions for additions to both are welcome.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net
z390 Assembler and Emulator

Can I port a mainframe assembler application to Windows?

2006-04-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

Yes you can provided the application does not require functions not yet available using z390. With each new release of z390, larger and larger applications are being assembled and tested. An application written for TSO using TGET, TPUT full screen TN3270 plus QSAM, BSAM, or BDAM file IO should port with few or no changes. For a sample application see regression test program DEMOGUI6.MLC included with z390.

Assembler programs that are part of larger applications requiring other subsystems such as CICS or DB2 can be assembled and unit tested using test versions of interface macros.

If you have a small test case you would like to see converted and tested contact me.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net

z390 Assembler and Emulator

z390 Assembler and Emulator

2006-04-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the z390 Assembler and Emulator Blog. z390 v1.0.14 was published Thursday April 13, 2006 for free download and install on Windows XP or 2000 using Installshield. Be sure you also have version 1.5.0 update 6 of the Sun Microsystems J2SE Java Runtime installed. You can post questions and comments on this blog. You can also join z390 User Group or post fix and enhancements via the support form on the www.z390.org website.

Don Higgins
don@higgins.net
z390 Assembler and Emulator