I guess some of you may be asking "What the heck is a mainframe?" Well to answer that question, mainframe computers are really powerful computers used mostly by corporate and government organizations for batch processing (process huge amounts of data with little human interaction), for critical applications, and for transaction processing(online shopping, ATM transactions).
Here's a picture to give you an idea. Cool, huh?
Anyway, the contest involves following instructions to perform different actions such as running jobs, editing code, and creating data sets. The instructions get even less descriptive as you go on and it requires you to remember things that you've done on previous tasks. I've learned that it's really important to take your time and stay focused on the task at hand.
In order to access the z/OS mainframe, I had to download a 3270 terminal emulator. An emulator looks like this. This is the z/OS welcome screen for the contest.
It looks like the old DOS green screens huh?...
So far the contest has been interesting. I'm still working on Part 2. There are 3 parts to the contest.
So now I know you're asking why am I participating in this contest. Well, partly it's because it's part of a course. Secondly, I am interested in learning about the Mainframe. Some people say it's going away, but a lot of professionals disagree. I currently use it on my job, but just to run jobs that have been set up. This gives me an opportunity to see the behind the scene aspect of it.
Oh yeah, and lets not forget the PRIZES!!! They include:
- ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity tablet computers
- Master the Mainframe swag, including hoodies, messenger bags and more
- Trips to the mainframe lab in Poughkeepsie, NY
- Custom Master the Mainframe T-shirts
So far, I've secured myself a T-shirt. Oh well, I'll also have the experience.
Until next time...
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