On this page we keep a summary of our most recent changes to our website, to help you focus in on changes since your last visit. The most recent changes are kept at the top. Changes that are primarily for formatting / cosmetic purposes are not listed here.
12 April, 2008
We added our new online store for the purchase of customized z/OS application developer toolkits.
28 January, 2008
Added DB2 Version 9 Differences class. Updated Enterprise COBOL Update II: Unicode and XML Support to support Version 4, Release 1 of the COBOL compiler.
09 December, 2007
We announced our Linux curriculum, in association with VM Assist.
30 June, 2007
Real Longchamps retired from training. We removed all his CICS courses from our site (we continue to offer a full complement of CICS application programmer courses.
02 June, 2007
Revised course purchase details.
30 April, 2007
Added ISPF and JCL on z/OS.
27 April, 2007
12 March, 2007
Enhanced our IMS curriculum with the addition of five courses from the IMS Society.
07 February, 2007
Replaced DB2 Data Base Administration with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
06 February, 2007
Replaced QMF For SQL Developers with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
05 February, 2007
Replaced QMF For Programmers with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
04 February, 2007
Replaced SQL Coding Workshop with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
03 February, 2007
Replaced SQL Query Building in DB2 with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
02 February, 2007
Replaced DB2 Operations with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
01 February, 2007
Replaced DB2 Tuning and Performance with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
30 January, 2007
Replaced DB2 Management Overview with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
29 January, 2007
Replaced DB2 Concepts and Facilities with a course of the same name (new course code, and the content has been updated to reflect the z/OS and DB2 V8 and later environment).
8 January, 2007
Added new course, Introduction to TSO and REXX APIs, replacing "Advanced Topics in TSO REXX".
28 November, 2006
Finished revising all Steve's courses to be in Ventura Publisher 10 format, and updating them to include z/OS V1.8 features
23 November, 2006
Add a new course for COBOL debugging, replacing three earlier coureses; the new course is Enterprise COBOL Debugging and Maintenance
15 September, 2006
Add a new course for Web technologies, the start of a suite of CGI courses, Introduction to CGIs on z/OS
7 June, 2006
Add 7 new courses for Web technologies, Service Oriented Architecture, and .NET
31 May, 2006
Add two new technical papers: "Hosting a Web site on z/OS" and "Serving Java docs from z/OS".
01 May, 2006
Add two new courses: "Creating and Using DLLs in z/OS" and "Interactive C/C++ Debugging with Debug Tool".
23 April, 2006
Add new course: "Secrets of Inter-Language Communication in z/OS"
27 March, 2006
Add new course: "You and z/OS and the World Wide Web"
27 February, 2006
Add new course: "C++ on z/OS"
12 February, 2006
Add new course: "WebSphere Developer for zSeries: Introduction"
29 November, 2005
Add two new 5-day C++ courses. "C++ Programming Workshop" and "C++ for Non-C Programmers".
September, 2005
Focus on updating COBOL classes to support Enterprise COBOL 3.4, updating z/OS courses and Assembler courses to support z9 hardware and z/OS 1.7 software. Redid home page to "punch it up" a bit.
16 August, 2005
Added a DB V8 rendition of "Advanced SQL Query Building".
10 June, 2005
Our Canadian CICS course author signficantly expanded the CICS curriculum especially as it applies to the Web / Internet.
27 May, 2005
Added two new courses, Business Analysis and Requirements Gathering from Rick High, and Advanced Topics in z/OS JCL.
We also removed our Oracle curriculum; for our clients who need Oracle training we recommend King Training Resources, where our Oracle courses came from. We can manage the scheduling, teaching, and invoicing of these courses if you like.
5 May, 2005
Replaced Introduction to Application Programming (MVS, OS/390) with Introduction to Application Programming (z/OS) as our introductory course for new programmers
1 May, 2005
Added Structured C Coding Workshop (z/OS version; removed previous version). Added summary of materials for combating outsourcing.
19 January, 2005
Added z/OS Assembler: Basic Interfaces. Removed many obsolete courses.
29 January, 2005
Added DB2 Version 8 Differences and updated z/OS Assembler for Applications Programmers.
11 January, 2005
Major restructuring of website, due to Microsoft Front Page limitations
10 January, 2005
Added technical papers on writing reentrant code in Assembler, and in doing I/O in AMODE 31 in Assembler. Changed mailing address.
27 November, 2004
Updated TSO/ISPF in z/OS to include ISPF 1.6 features (including HIDE command and minor changes); updated Developing Dialog Manager Applicarions in z/OS to include 1.6 features (especially scrollable fields, EXPAND command, new file tailoring statements, QTABOPEN service, and an introduction to panel REXX); updated Advanced ISPF in z/OS, adding COMPARE command
30 August, 2004
Replaced two DB2 courses with newer versions: DB2 Dynamic SQL and DB2 Stored Procedures; re-worked pricing arrangements to support smaller class sizes.
14 July, 2004
Continued conversion to new format for setups for labs; new course released: "Advanced Topics in COBOL (Enterprise, z/OS)"
25-27 June, 2004
Began conversion to new format for setups for labs; major revision to D704 and D705 courses ("Enterprise COBOL Update I: Essentials" and "Enterprise COBOL Update II: Unicode and XML Support", respectively).
16 June, 2004
Added new course: "DB2 Tuning and Performance"
14 June, 2004
Added two new courses: "Enterprise PL/I Debugging and Maintenance" and "Developing Applications for z/OS UNIX".
1 June, 2004
Updated public course list to delete A810 from, the course schedule. Also, major attempt to fix links to home page, which got broken as part of having to change ISPs
5 April, 2004
Updated public course list to add A810 to, and delete A750 from, the course schedule.
16 March, 2004
Updated public course list to add A750 course to schedule. Many corrections and updates; major one: D705 has become a two-day course
25 February, 2004
Updated public course list to remove courses done or un-scheduled. Added new section, on Very Short Presentations
07 January, 2004
Updated public course list to list DB2 and DB2/CICS offerings; removed G-160 (replaced by G-560) and G-174 (replaced by G-574).
16 December, 2003
Updated public course list to list REXX offering
01 December, 2003
Added new course: Enterprise COBOL: Unicode and XML Support
24 October, 2003
Added new version of DB2 Application Programming; updated some set up files; minor updates to D200
18 September, 2003
Added new technical paper, "An Introduction To XSLT", xslt01.pdf
9 September, 2003
Updated public course list.
25 August, 2003
Added COBOL Update I: COBOL II through COBOL for OS/390 & VM; revised the Java curriculum (added two courses, deleted three).
20 August, 2003
Added XML curruiculum: three new courses; created web-oriented curriculum page to tie together Java, XML, UNIX System Services and more.
Updated z/OS Assembler for Applications Programmers and Public course list
30 June, 2003
Updated z/OS Assembler for Applications Programmers and Public course list
27 May, 2003
Added links to the Henderson Group for courses related to system audit and security
30 April, 2003
Updated ftp file for U510
29 April, 2003
Updated materials for course U515: Shell Script Programming in z/OS UNIX
15 April, 2003
Added course U515: Shell Script Programming in z/OS UNIX
1 March, 2003
Added lecture on 'bc' command / programming language as supplement to course U515
18 February, 2003
Updated description, objectives, and outline of G-170, DB2 Data Base Administration
11 February, 2003
Updated Public course list: offering of G-164, DB2 Stored Procedures, in Seattle in March
25 January, 2003
Added Developing Dialog Manger Applications in z/OS as part of the evolution to z/OS-based courses.
12 January, 2003
Updated public course list to reflect changes.
2 January, 2003
Added Structured COBOL Workshop for Enterprise COBOL and z/OS JCL and Utilities as part of the evolution to z/OS-based courses.
25 November, 2002
Updated C500 ("z/OS Assembler for Applications Programmers") to reflect z/OS V1.4, and course has grown to 3 days. Removed two older DB2 version differences courses.
9 November, 2002
A major overhaul of our Oracle curriculum: rewrites of existing course descriptions, additions of many new courses.
8 November, 2002
Added TSO CLIST Programming in z/OS course and VSAM for PL/I Programmers course, continuing conversion of courses to z/OS platform. Updated the public class list.
27 October, 2002
Added TSO REXX Programming in z/OS course, continuing conversion of courses to z/OS platform.
18 October, 2002
Added ISPF Update and Advanced ISPF in z/OS courses, continuing conversions of courses to z/OS platform.
10 October, 2002
Added TSO/ISPF in z/OS course; beginning conversions of courses to z/OS platform.
01 October, 2002
Updated DB2 Stored Procedures course; now contains ODBC topic, an extra exercise, and is two days long.
09 September, 2002
Added new UNIX curriculum, along with our first course, Introduction to z/OS UNIX
26 August, 2002
Added new DB2 courses to help people make the jump from DB2 Version 5 to DB2 Version 7: DB2 Version 5 to Version 7 Transistion for Data Base Administrators and DB2 Version 5 to Version 7 Transistion for Developers
24 August, 2002
Updated Public course list: offering of O-150, PL/SQL for Developers
17 June, 2002
Added sample lecture extract about tsort command from our upcomng UNIX System Services class.
8 April, 2002
Added new DB2 courses to our curriculum: DB2 Dynamic SQL, DB2 Stored Procedures, and QMF for SQL Developers. We also formally introduced our z/OS curriculum.
3 April, 2002
We had our hosting company pull our server and force us to move to a different server; some links may be non-functional since we went from a non-case-sensitive platform to a case-sensitive platform.
6 March, 2002
We changed our prices to reflect a change in our included number of students. In the past, we offered a single price that included instructor expenses and tuitions for up to 20 students. Since it is rare to have that many students in a class, we reduced the number of included tuitions to 16 and modified our prices to reflect that.
4 March, 2002
update to pricing details for RCT; added pages to support internal marketing of your mainframe site.
27 February, 2002
small update to "z/OS, Language Environment, and UNIX - How They Work Together". Updated "DB2 Application Programming" and "PL/I Structured Workshop" course descriptions, objectives, and outlines.
04 February, 2002
Added new feature: freely downloadable technical studies, and put in the first document: "z/OS, Language Environment, and UNIX - How They Work Together". Updated public course list.
27 December, 2001
Updated ftp files for several courses. Added new course: Using LE Services in z/OS; started updates to support new z/OS curriculum; renumbered course code C900 to be C500 (changed links, added new pages, etc.)
20, 21 December, 2001
Updated ftp files for several courses. Updated public course list.
04 November, 2001
Updated ftp files for several courses.
14 October, 2001
Announced a new CICS curriculum and more Oracle courses.
27 August, 2001
Removed the ViaSoft curriculum, at the request of the author.
22 August, 2001
Announced G120: DB2 Version 7 Differences. Updated Public Course List. Various editorial changes.
14 August, 2001
26 June, 2001
Introduced a Java Curriculum
12 June, 2001
Updated Public Course List (ISPF and JCL classes scheduled).
4 June, 2001
Major updates to Assembler curriculum, in preparation for putting together the z/OS course. Updated Public Course List (currently no classes scheduled).
23 April, 2001
Updated information on M220 (InterLanguage Communication in OS/390), especially more on DLLs on the mainframe; added G118 (DB2 Version 6 Differences).
12 April, 2001
Updated Public Course List.
16 March, 2001
Updated Public Course List.
10 March, 2001
Updated various support files, updated A310 notes, updated Public Course List.
10 February, 2001
Updated various support files; added new course: OS/390 Assembler Language: Classic, in anticipation of adding some related courses in the next two months
4 February, 2001
Updated Public Course List.
20 December, 2000
Added PL/I Debugging and Maintenance in the LE Environment: new course. Miscellaneous updates and corrections.
13 December, 2000
Updated Public Course List.
6 December, 2000
Updated our price list for 2001, since some (but not all) prices went up, for the first time in 3 years.
29 November, 2000
Updated Dialog Manager Using TSO REXX and TSO CLIST and Advanced ISPF to include ISPF v5.0 information.
23 November, 2000
Updated Introduction to TSO/ISPF to include ISPF v5.0 information; updated Structured COBOL Workshop to include information on currency symbols (including the Euro) and line sequential files
17 November, 2000
Updated the Public Course List ; currently have no public courses offered. Updated information on Application Design Using LE Services, Application Design Using LE Services + Beyond COBOL II, Structured C Coding Workshop and ftp files, to support OS/390 V2R10 (XPLINK, new DD statements, new run-times) and new COBOL version (V2R2; see outline).
6 November, 2000
Updated the Public Course List . Added pictures to bios for Steve and Hunter.
18 October, 2000
Updated course: D204 - Beyond COBOL II
15 October, 2000
Added new course: E204 - VisualAge PL/I Differences
12 October, 2000
Updated the Public Course List .
Also updated ISPF courses to reflect the new Version 5.
15 September, 2000
Updated the Public Course List .
Also removed Oracle outlines from website. (They are still available by email; email us or give us a call if you would like any outlines).
19 August, 2000
Updated the Public Course List (Great West Life is hosting a PL/I class); added new information about our company, past clients, our instructors and authors, and so on.
1 August, 2000
Updated the Public Course List (TWA is hosting a dialog manager class)
30 July, 2000
Added brief tutorial on What Is Dialog Manager?
29 July, 2000
Added new information on international work; updated many course description pages to put more links to related pages
21 July, 2000
Added two new courses: Dialog Manager Using TSO REXX and TSO CLIST, and Interactive Mulit-Language Debugging with Debug Tool. Updated the Public Course List
7 July, 2000
Updated the Public Course List
17 June, 2000
Updated the ftp pages
12 June, 2000
Updated the Public Course List
25 May, 2000
Updated the Public Course List , added our first VIASOFT course: VIASOFT Existing Systems Workbench Toolset (later removed).
5 May, 2000
Updated the Public Course List
27 April, 2000
Added new PL/I debugging course (E-235: Interactive PL/I Debugging with Debug Tool) and a new Debugging Curriculum page
17 April, 2000
Updated the files for some courses and the Public Course List
2 April, 2000
Updated the Public Course List
29 March, 2000
Updated the Public Course List
12 March, 2000
Updated the Public Course List
9 February, 2000
Updated the ftp files for some courses, and major update to the Public Course List
2 February, 2000
Updated the COBOL debugging info (D230, D232, D234), the ftp files for these courses, and the Public Course List
19 January, 2000
Added information about a new option: Remote Contact Training
13 January, 2000
Updated Public Course List to reflect changes in public offerings.
8 January, 2000
Added more ftp files to support additional courses. Updated more courses (making sure, for example, date examples are current). Updated Public Course List to reflect newly available offerings.
23 December, 1999
Added more ftp files to support additional courses. Updated "Introduction to TSO/ISPF" (A133), and "Advanced Topics in ISPF" (A135) outlines to reflect recent changes in ISPF (new commands: EPDF, CUT, PASTE, REFRESH; ability to allocate target for copy and move under edit; updated sample dates to be in year 2000). Removed Y2K course from curriculum.
29 November, 1999
Added more ftp files to support additional courses. Updated Beyond COBOL II (D204), and LE Application Design courses (M212 and M214) outlines to reflect update.
10 October, 1999
Updated 2nd week of Assembler course (C216) to include a discussion of the new TRE (TRanslate Extended) instruction and a mention of the new CUUTF and CUTFU instructions.
29 September, 1999
Added more ftp files to support additional courses. Renamed D200 to "Converting to COBOL for OS/390 & VM" to reflect content upgrades and the newer compiler name.
22 September, 1999
Updated various pages that said A150 was a four day course; it is 3 days.
19 September, 1999
Updated Public course list
18 August, 1999
Updated Public course list (Great West Life is hosting "PL/SQL for Developers" in November and "Advanced Topics in JCL" at the end of November / first of December).
Although not directly reflected on the website, all the JCL classes, the LE classes, and the ISPF classes have been updated. The TSO REXX class added an appendix on system variables.
28 July, 1999
Updated Public course list (Great West Life is hosting "Oracle SQL and SQL*Plus" in September, "Developer/2000 Forms (V4.5)" in September, and "OS/390 JCL & Utilities" in October). Updated the Oracle curriculum, especially adding the "Developer/2000 Forms (V5)" course.
13 July, 1999
Updated Public course list (US West is hosting an Inter-Language Communication in OS/390 class in September).
11 July, 1999
Added new course (Inter-Language Communication in OS/390) and various cross references.
1 July, 1999
Updated Public course list (Galileo is hosting a Structured C Coding Workshop class in July). Added new curriculum (C courses), new course (Structured C Coding Workshop), and various cross references.
10 June, 1999
Updated DB2 Version 5 Differences topical outline to reflect content changes. Updated Futures page.
21 May, 1999
Updated Public course list (Great West Life is hosting a CICS class in August). Updated Advanced Topics in COBOL (added SORT verb, plus pedagogical any typographical corrections).
10 May, 1999
Updated Public course list (we currently have no public classes scheduled). Added a new course, COBOL Debugging and Maintenance in OS/390, which combines two other courses to include debugging using both SYSUDUMP style dumps and LE CEEDUMP style dumps
25 April, 1999
Updated Public course list, info on DB2 Tuning and Performance and DB2 DataBase Administration courses, and developing course outline on futures and discussions
9 April, 1999
Updated Public course list: deleted LE class, since it is over.
Added somewhat whimsical page on futures and discussions and
a page on employment opportunities.
5 April, 1999
Updated Public course list: marked JCL and LE classes as Full.
Added major section on philosophies, procedures, policies, and prices.
26 March, 1999
Updated Beyond COBOL II (rewrite of migration section; added new options for MLE), Application Development Using LE Services (various corrections; major rewrite of Inter-Langauge Communications section, added information about Library Routine Retention) and the combined course Application Development Using LE Services + Beyond COBOL II; updated TSO CLIST Programming to reflect system variables with four digit years.
12 March, 1999
Updated Public course list: added offering of Application Development Using LE Services in Chicago in April (Sears is host)
7 March, 1999
Updated Public course list: removed some classes due to low enrollments and some due to fact they are starting tomorrow
5 March, 1999
Updated Public course list: cancelled 3 classes due to low enrollments
22 February, 1999
Updated Public course list: added offerings of JCL and PL/I
14 February, 1999
Updated Public course list: added offerings of IMS/DB and DB2 Application Programming; removed one Structured COBOL offering; New Course: DB2 Version 5 Differences
7 February, 1999
Updated Public course list: added offerings of Structured COBOL Workshop (the 7 day version), Advanced Topics in COBOL, and Introduction to Application Programming (OS/390)
2 February, 1999
Updated Public course list: added two offerings of Advanced ISPF and one offering of Advanced JCL
21 January, 1999
Updated Public course list: dropped two courses due to low enrollments
19 January, 1999
Updated Public course list: opennings again available in the Assembler classes
16 January, 1999
Updated Public course list: changed the date on the COBOL class; fixed a few typos.
14 January, 1999
Updated Public course list: the Assembler classes are full.
12, 13 January, 1999
Updated Public course list. Added an offering of PL/SQL for Developers in Denver in April. Dropped some courses due to low enrollment.
11 January, 1999
Updated Public course list. Added an offering of Introduction to Application Programming (MVS, OS/390) in Denver in February followed by an offering of the seven-day version of Structured COBOL Workshop.
4 January, 1999
Updated Public course list.
30 December, 1998
Major revision to B110, MVS & OS/390 JCL and Utilities; fixed typos, reordered topics, combined lectures, revised labs, deleted one lab
21 December, 1998
Updated Public course list to change date of COBOL class in February. Also fixed publication numbers in Assembler course descriptions.
17 December, 1998
Updated Public course list to add COBOL class in February.
15 December, 1998
Updated VSAM classes and began slight revision in way in which course descriptions, course objectives, and course outlines are hypertext linked.
8 December, 1998
Updated Public Class List (dropped scheduled PL/I courses due to
low enrollments; removed the Denver DB2 class because it is full)
4 December, 1998
Updated Public Class List
Added new course: OS/390 Assembler, Part 2 (later replaced)
12 November, 1998
Updated Public Class List
Added new course: OS/390 Assembler, Part 1 (later replaced)
5 November, 1998
Updated all related courses to reflect latest version / releases of
ISPF, Quick Reference, (E)JES, LE, and DB2
Also updated all lecture notes referring to dates to be dates in 1999,
so when the lectures are given dates are close to the actual class
date (we feel it's easier to grasp, and more relevant if courses are
clearly current).
In process of updating Assembler courses to integerate the new hardware
instructions and latest release information from HLASM
Note that none of these changes alters any web pages, but we wanted
to point out the kind of care we take in maintaining our materials.
25 October, 1998
Updated Public Class List
Added new course: Advanced ISPF
7 October, 1998
Updated Public Class List:
Added following course offerings:
Structured PL/I Workshop: 1/18-22 (Kansas City)
OS/390 Assembler, Part 1: 1/25-29 (Denver)
OS/390 Assembler, Part 2: 2/8-12 (Denver)
Application Development Using LE Services: 2/15-17 (Bellevue, WA)
COBOL For the New Millenium ("Beyond COBOL II"): 2/18-19
(Bellevue, WA)
27 September, 1998
Updated Public Class List:
Removed PL/I course offerings (low enrollments)
Added Omaha course offerings:
Introduction to Application Programming (MVS, OS/390): 10/5-6
Structured COBOL Workshop: 10/8-16
DB2 Application Programming: 11/30-12/4
19 September, 1998
Added course G060 (DB2 Operations) course
Updated Public Class List
13 September, 1998
Updated Public Class List
28 August, 1998
Updated Public Class List
21 August, 1998
Updated Public Class List
Updated outline and descriptions for TSO REXX course (added TSOLIB
command, new paramters for SYSVAR, added MVSVAR TSO/E function,
added more information about TRANSMIT, installed new course setup
process).
18 July, 1998
Updated Public Class List
11 July, 1998
Updated outlines for D232 (COBOL Debugging and Maintenance in the LE Environment) and M212 (Application Development Using LE Services); updated Public Class List
25 June, 1998
Updated outlines for D225 (Advanced COBOL) and G174 (DB2 / CICS Interface); updated Public Class List
29 May, 1998
Added information on materials purchasing and renting
28 May, 1998
Updated Public Course List; updated course info on O-140
27 May, 1998
Updated Public Course List: indicated COBOL Debug class in Omaha full; added Beyond COBOL II in Bellevue
25 May, 1998
Put Public Course List on site
Added this What's New page
Course updates: support for Millennium Language Extensions (MLE) added
to D204 (Beyond COBOL II) and M214 (Application Development
Using LE Services+ Beyond COBOL II)
24 May, 1998
Added Oracle curriculum
April-May, 1998
Put up bulk of course descriptions, course objectives, and topical outlines
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