What is the disp of third step?

[ramesh4mainframes]

One interviewer asked the following

I have 3 steps (Temporary data sets) first is refer to second, second is refer to third. Then what is the disp of third step?

[dick scherrer]

Hello,

Cannot be answered - there is no such thing as "step disposition".

You need to stop posting these type of questions and do some reading in the appropriate manuals. . .

[ramesh4mainframes]

Hi Dick,

We too feel same. But in one interview questions we saw this type of questions. We all discussed together. Then for conclusion came to this forum.

[steve-myers]

It's not very clear what the actual question is here. I suspect it is for JCL like this --

Code: Select all

//A       EXEC PGM=---
//ADS      DD  DISP=(NEW,PASS),UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(TRK,(1,1)),...
//B       EXEC PGM=---
//ADS      DD  DISP=(OLD,PASS),DSN=*.A.ADS
//C       EXEC PGM=---
//ADS      DD  DISP=OLD,DSN=*.A.ADS

The answer is the DISP in the third step is identical to the default DISP in the first step. In this case, since the first step specified DISP=NEW, its default is DISP=(NEW,DELETE), so the effective DISP in the third step is DISP=(OLD,DELETE). The same rule applies whether the data set is temporary, which is sort of implied by my JCL, or if a "permanent" data set name is specified in the DD statement in step A. You can find this in the JCL manual much more quickly than asking it here.

[dick scherrer]

Hello,

We too feel same. But in one interview questions we saw this type of questions. We all discussed together.

It sounds like "we" and the interviewer were having major communication problems. I'm not sure how an interview works out when the interviewer asks this kind of question. . .

I suspect there was more involved and as such, we can't do much other than guess at what might have been actually asked.

One of the worst interviewing experiences i've heard of is when the interviewer and the applicants were conducting an interview in English and neither the interviewer nor the applicants used English as their first language and they also did not share a common first language. . .