Category: Fans of IBM z

We are loaded with Load instructions on IBM machines. Load and Test Grande Register is a useful instruction to keep at your fingertips. Read about it here.

Here is a video discussion of the eleven load operations that were given a visual depiction last week. If you are not familiar with all of these loads, the video can help you quickly master these and give you a way to remember them easily.

Here is a video I made about the importance of “green cards”. Like all advice, it’s worth about what you pay for it 🙂 If you are new to assembler, you might learn something interesting.

This week, instead of an article about one instruction, I give you a visual depiction of the eleven load operations for an IBM z16. There are no words, so it’s something like a puzzle. You have to parse the diagrams to glean the information. Much is left out of course. No talk of addressing techniques, just the results of executing each instruction is depicted. But you may learn a new instruction or reinforce what you already know. Enjoy—it helped me. View the diagrams here. Let me know if you would like a video about this.

Thanks so much, IBM! I am delighted.

I’ve updated the article about LAY to include how to decrement a register with LAY. If you haven’t seen this before, it’s worth a look. Read about LAY here.

With similarities to LARL and L, Load Relative Long (LRL) provides a helpful way to load fullwords. Review an old friend or expand your instruction set knowledge with this article.

We’ve arrived at “L” in our alphabetical journey through IBM mainframe assembler instructions. There are lots of “L” instructions, so we will be here a while.

You can quickly learn or review six IBM Assembler instructions with this article. Insert Immediate instructions allow you to modify all the halfword and fullword postitions in a 64-bit register. IIHF,IILF,IIHH,IIHL,IILH,IILL — The I’s have it!

Execute Relative Long (EXRL) is closely related to the Execute instruction. Check out the similarities and differences here in a new article.

In my spare time, I entertain myself by writing a series of mystery novels. The first novel was The Elvis Bird, and the most recent is Death of a Golden Bird. They are about a southern ornithologist who researches birds (The Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the Golden Eagle) and stumbles over murders. Both novels are available on Amazon in paper and Kindle. These days, I am working on a third novel in the series. You can read more about them at dewoolbright.com .

If you would like to support this site and make an old but budding novelist happy, consider buying copies. As always, thanks for using the site.

David Woolbright