Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2011-10-10.) I’ve written about Hackday in the past. See My HackDay 6 Project – Mashing Up RMF, My HackDay 5 Project – z/OS System Logger Analysis and Hackday4 and Referer URLs (though I don’t know why I didn’t write about Hackday 7 or Hackday 8). So, this year I participated in Hackday 9Continue reading “Hackday 9 – REXX, Java and XML”

(Originally posted 2011-10-01.) I was going to start this post with an apology. But, as any sensible blogger would, I left it a few days to write this. Now I realise that there’s a wider point than the "I was wrong" one. (But I was wrong – in a way that I think many otherContinue reading “zAAP and zIIP Delay”

(Originally posted 2011-09-27.) Maybe you’ve all heard of BPXWUNIX. Maybe it’s just me that hasn’t. Hence the question mark in the title. Seriously, I doubt this REXX function is as widely known about as it should be. And this post hopes to illustrate a little of its value. Suppose you’re writing a REXX program withContinue reading “BPXWUNIX – z/OS’ Best Kept Secret?”

(Originally posted 2011-09-25.) I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I wrote Batch Capacity Planning, Part 1 – CPU . Where did the time go? 🙂 Re-reading it I’m struck by the overwhelming theme of Batch’s unpredictability and lumpiness. This is true of memory, as well, but to a much lesser degree. Why toContinue reading “Batch Capacity Planning, Part 2 – Memory”

(Originally posted 2011-09-19.) It’s been a week since the following was posted in IBM-MAIN: Batch Capacity Planning – BWATOOL? So far there’s been no reply. Though a little disappointed, I’m not surprised. "Disappointed" as I was looking for a good debate (even though it wasn’t me who asked the question). "Not surprised" as I thinkContinue reading “Batch Capacity Planning, Part 1 – CPU”

(Originally posted 2011-09-14.) It’s been an awfully long time since I wrote When Good Work Doesn’t Go To zIIP / zAAP Heaven. And too long since I posted anything at all. 😦 In fact I had a bunch of posts in my brain until this morning when a customer asked me a question which turnedContinue reading “zAAP and zIIP Revisited (At Last)”

(Originally posted 2011-08-23.) Over the weekend I decided to try my hand at writing a JSON parser in REXX. I developed the technique outlined in this post to enable me to do that. I think it’s new. Certainly I’ve not seen it before. (I don’t want at this point to get into a discussion aboutContinue reading “Setting Arbitrary Variables In A REXX Procedure That Persist After It Completes”

(Originally posted 2011-08-12.) In WLM Velocity – "Rhetorical Devices Are Us" I mentioned a graph I wasn’t going to publish – essentially to protect a customer. In this post I’m again going to describe a graph I have (at least in my head) without publishing it. (And for essentially the same reasons.) I hope youContinue reading “Another Graph I’m NOT Going To Share With You – Batch Window Reduction Expectations”

(Originally posted 2011-08-11.) Usually when I go away on holiday I bring something back with me. Often in the form of fresh ideas. This year it’s been such a hectic one that all I did was to flake out. So no new ideas this time. Perhaps that’s a good thing, perhaps not. 🙂 But IContinue reading “Back From Vacation And Raring To Go – To Poughkeepsie”

(Originally posted 2011-07-19.) Here’s another neat piece of algebra: A technique for summing series. You know what b – a + c – b + d – c is. Right? Suppose I were to write the same sum as: (b – a) + (c – b) + (d – c) The answer is still dContinue reading “Another Neat Piece Of Algebra – Series Summation”