System 370/390 Job Control Language

This excellent book is for novice through experienced programmers. It includes information on the more recent releases of MVS, including SMS and its impact to JCL. While the text is good reading, it is also useful as a reference book.

I first encountered Mr. Browns JCL book in it's 1st edition about 10 years ago. I was familar with a JCL book by Shelly & Cashman at the time. Mr Brown's book had much better example's and was written in a conversational style much easier to follow than the standard IBM JCL reference or the Shelley & Cashman book that I already owned. I also have had exposure to a JCL book by Doug Lowe which is a good student text but is weak as a professional's reference after school is complete. I am currently entering my 17th year in programming. I Consult currently at a fortune 500 company, and teach COBOL for a rehabilitation program in Minneapolis. I have just convinced the staff responsible for text selection to replace the Lowe book with Mr. Brown's for the Fall quarter. In my class I have students with various disabilities ranging from physical impairments to learning disabilities. The new larger format of the 3rd edition is appreciated by those with sight impairments, and the numerous examples are appreciated by the student I have with a learning disability. I have recommended the book to many collegues and when I managed a staff of 8 I issued a copy of the book to everyone on my team. Simply put, with the many examples, the style of prose and the excellent index I can not recommend a better book on JCL