I am planning to teach on-line assembler classes for Marist College in the fall with their Institute for Data Center Professionals. You can find more information about this program and the classes here: https://idcp.marist.edu/enterprise-course-list
Or for even more information, please contact the IDCP at learnzos@marist.edu
Roberta Diggins l roberta.diggins@marist.edu l 845-575-3601
I am very interested in this assembler course! I am not sure how closely I fit the normal student profile. I have questions about prereqs, costs, & how Z/OS access is provided.
Most of the students are working full-time in the computer field. Most work on IBM z machines. The main prerequisite for the class is the ability to program in some language. It doesn’t matter which one, but I wouldn’t recommend starting with assembler as a first language. The class is organized into weeks that consist of video instruction, written material, and a programming assignment. I do hold weekly online office hours. Marist has access to an IBM mainframe provided by IBM. A 3270 emulator provides green-screen access. Since most students work full-time, I am flexible about turn-in dates. I believe the only way to master this material is by writing programs, so we write a program most weeks that is targeted to the weekly material. The programs will make you exercise what you have learned, but are usually fairly short in the total number of lines of code. By the end of the second class you will have good beginning assembler skills and can be useful working on assembler programs.
I recommend you call or email the folks at Marist for details. It’s an old program and the school has close ties to IBM.