Entry Level PL/I Programming

Duration:   20 days minimum.

Participants:   Entry level application programmers with little or no MVS programming experience.

Objectives:   Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to: -  Break down a program into tasks, arranged in a logical manner. -  Translate program tasks into appropriately coded PL/I statements. -  Handle I/O requirements such as data type, organization, and record size. -  Implement program requirements such as initialization, key change logic, and I/O housekeeping. -  Code well-structured and modular PL/I programs that include PL/I data types and aggregates, file I/O for inputting and reporting, procedural organization, and iterative and selective control statements. -  Use operational expressions, built-in functions, storage class concepts, and efficient coding techniques. -  Compile, link, execute, and debug PL/I programs using compiler options and debugging statements.

Overview:   -  While this course teaches entry level programmers the sound and basic rules of structured programming, it also introduces the main features of PL/I as a business programming language. Both concepts and syntax are presented for each topic with consideration for efficient and practical application. Many examples illustrate useful programming techniques and class exercises reinforce the key points. Workshops have been designed to test the programmer's understanding while providing debugging experience. -  Topics include the basic program elements, data types and organizations, expression evaluation and built-in functions, assignment and control statements, stream and consecutive record I/O, introduction to procedures, storage classes, and interrupt processing, and the optimizing compiler and its options. -  For example, the following topics can be included in your curriculum:* Structured Programming Principles Program Components Data Types and Formats Arrays Structures Declare Statement and Initialization Expression Evaluation Rules for: Arithmetic Operations, Concatenation, Comparison, Logical operations, and Simple Conversion Rules Structured Programming Selective and Iterative Logic Statements Table Searching Techniques Structured Programming File Input Techniques Aggregate Manipulations Built-in Functions Stream I/O Characteristics and the PUT statement for Debugging Consecutive Record I/O Characteristics File Processing Picture Specifications Subroutine and Function Procedures Argument and Parameter Passing Automatic and Static Storage and Their Uses Based Variables and Their Application Interrupt Processing for Debugging The Optimizing Compiler and Its Options *  This course includes workshops that bring together all the material that participants have learned in this program. Because the information presented can be customized for a particular class or client environment, the workshop problems will also be customized to reflect this. See the Introduction to PL/I Programming and Intermediate PL/I course outlines for further details on topics that are candidates for customization.

Prerequisites:   : Previous training in MVS, JCL and TSO or CMS unless customized within the Entry Level Curriculum.

Format:   Lecture and discussion with hands-on workshops.

Boot Camp List       PL/I List       Site Map       Home