How user friendly should my execs be? (Was: Matching a set of characters in a string)

[Lindy Mayfield]

I wouldn't want an end user touching my mainframe, any more than would want them to ssh into my Unix machine. Or am I a bit too "modern" or wrong in my thinking?

And Simplist and similar tools are great, but it is (in my opinion) they are productivity tools for people who use the machine for work (and like me, play), not for looking at reports.

Lindy

P.S. Because my initial question about string matching turned out to be just this. I could have easily made it command line and saved myself about 2000 lines of code. :-)


-----Original Message-----
From: TSO REXX Discussion List [mailto:TSO-...@VM.MARIST.EDU] On Behalf Of Davis, James (NIH/CIT) [E]
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 3:58 PM
To: TSO-...@VM.MARIST.EDU
Subject: Re: [TSO-REXX] Antwort: [TSO-REXX] Matching a set of characters in a string

or they could be converted to PDF, and then emailed to, or FTP'd by users.

James

> -----Original Message-----
> This means that there are still companies where end-users have to go
> into tso to see some reports, original files etc etc.
>

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[Dave Salt]

> From: Lindy.M...@SAS.COM

> And Simplist and similar tools
are great, but it is (in my opinion) they are productivity tools for
people who use the machine for work (and like me, play), not for looking
at reports.

I've personally witnessed SimpList being used by every level of ISPF user, regardless of their knowledge or skill level. I used to have a project manager who only signed onto the mainframe once in a blue moon (usually to browse or print one of several different reports), and every time she did it she was completely lost. I showed her how to use SimpList and after that she never had a problem again.

Regular ISPF users who've worked on mainframes for many years often think they already know every shortcut there is. These people understand how SimpList benefits new users, but they often don't think it's something they need themselves. But after they've given SimpList a try they quickly realize the difference between ISPF and SimpList is like the difference between TSO and ISPF. Once they've experienced how much faster and easier they can do their jobs, they never want to go back to doing things the hard way.

At the far end of the spectrum are power users who develop their own tools and utilities. I've seen these people create stunning ways to use SimpList in ways I'd never even imagined, such as interfacing SimpList with their own in-house tools and vendor products to create seamless process flows where the entire development and test cycle can be performed from one location, and using the Application Programming Interface to develop incredible utilities that take productivity to a whole new level.

The bottom line is that SimpList benefits almost every mainframe user, from the most inexperienced and junior right up to super users who know every trick in the book. And because of the licensing cost (which is fixed at a very low rate regardless of mainframe size or speed), not having it is like throwing money out the window.

Dave Salt

SimpList(tm) - try it; you'll get it!

http://www.mackinney.com/products/program-development/simplist.html