Murach's MVS TSO Concepts and ISPF, Part 1

This book is great to introduce beginners to MVS and is a handy reference when working in MVS. I give it 4 stars because it has not been updated since the 90's and the introduction uses examples that are very dated. Otherwise it would get 5 stars.

Quite good book. However the book has old information. I mean the content of this book is exactly the same as it was 20 years ago... They just reprinted the cover. Most of information is still relevant because ISPF hasn't been changed a lot. Though, it's quite funny to read about keyboard layout on 3270 terminal :) I think this book is primarily designed for application programmers (e.g. COBOL, PL/1 programmers) who want to learn how to work with ISPF or want to improve their effectiveness with ISPF. There is nothing about TSO and how it works. Bottomline: the book is very helpful for application programmers or for those who is just starting to work with ISPF/TSO environment. For those who need exhaustive explanation of how the TSO works this book will not add any value.

This book is clear and concise. Though the comparison between the Micro/Mini/Mainframes are a about 10 years out of date, the actual target material is right on. This book is organized in such a way as to be a powerful learning tool as well as a awesome reference. I couldn't have hoped for anything better.

Doug Lowe does a great job with this easy to read text on MVS / TSO. Get this book if you need to jump right into MVS. Plenty of examples and real world analogies make this book a must have for your reference library.