z/OS Study Center
The Background

 

In many parts of our world, mainframe computers are thought to be anachronisms, remnants of a past long gone. But in reality, IBM mainframes continue to process huge amounts of transactions for major banks, insurance companies, manufacturers, and other enterprises. IBM announces new versions of the hardware every two to three years, and the software has been extended way beyond its origins.

Code originally written in the 1970's up through today still runs on "big iron", usually with little or no rewrites due to hardware and software upgrades. While some organizations have replaced their mainframe with server farms and other options, many mainframe shops continue to run applications coded decades ago. They still work just fine.

 

I originally joined IBM as a systems engineer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1968. In 1971 I transfered to the customer education center in Denver where I taught application programming courses. In 1975 I left IBM to work for myself, writing and teaching programming courses for IBM mainframes. I've prided myself on providing current, clear, and useful courses for the OS/370 programming community as it has grown and evolved into today's z/OS world.
 

I "retired" around 2013, but I've kept my course materials available. Even though most of the courses have not been updated in some time, most of the content is still likely to be relevant. The core machine instructions have not changed, for example. And most COBOL applications are written using techniques and styles that still work today.

But after being "retired" for over 12 years, I got access to a z/OS machine and found I could still get around - and I enjoyed it.

So I got this idea of updating my course materials! Lots of the content is still current so it might not be hard to bring things up to date - as long as I had access to a current system to check things still worked as I recall and to test out new facilities.

And that's what I've been doing in 2024, 2025, and 2026.

 

For over 50 years after leaving IBM I taught in Colorado and traveled around the U.S., and even to a number of foreign countries including England, Sweden, Kuwait, Singapore, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and more, teaching lively classes for IBM mainframe programmers.

Here are some of the companies where I have taught my courses:

Here are some of the companies that have licensed all or some of my courses:

 

A recent trend has been to be contacted by individuals who would like to buy my training materials in order to renew or expand their programming skills. Since corporate training has pretty much gone, these people have expressed a willingness to pay for the materials out of their own pocket. But even though the prices for my materials have been greatly reduced, it can be a strain on an individual's budget.

So I came up with the idea of providing our materials for self-study, and suggesting organizations create a library of these materials available to their employees on an on-demand basis. No need for an instructor (although you can still use the materials that way). The materials can be used for self-study, instructor-led training, or group study.

 

Now the time has come for me to truly retire from the mainframe world.

And so, through the month of April, 2026, I am holding a close-out sale of my course materials and technical papers. On May 1 I will remove the course materials and papers from the web, not for sale in the future. I will be available to answer questions, on an as-available basis, during the month of May. And then I will be truly gone from the IBM mainframe world [well, except for the occasional peeking, probably].