[geeks] Learning 360-assembly on Hercules

[Joost van de Griek]

Greetings, I seek to consult the wisdom of the List.

Having cut my teeth on programming in Assembly for the Z80 and 6502 in 
the Eighties, and not having done much Assembly programming at all 
since, I find myself interested in learning Assembly for the IBM 360 
family. I work in the old iron business, programming in COBOL, PL/I and 
C on IBM mainframes and HP (Tandem) NonStop systems. The few times I 
encountered Assembly on the mainframe, professionally, it was always 
surrounded by myth: objects freely roaming the system that were 
programmed in ancient times by bearded gurus long since retired, program 
modules used by everyone but maintained by none and understood by even 
fewer.

Well then, there must be a way to capitalise on this and carve out a 
niche, methinks. So, several questions spring to mind: is it a feasible 
desire to run Hercules on Mac OS (currently working at a Tandem shop, so 
no mainframe access), install one of the free OS options and use that to 
learn S/390 Assembly in a manner sufficently relevant to current 
production systems, i.e. will the knowledge I gain be applicable to 
today's mainframe operating environment?

Any list members able to offer insight into the market for Assembly 
programming in the EU, specifically the Benelux/Germany/UK? 
(International insights welcome, if less relevant to my professional 
scope. But, hey, it's a list so let's share the knowledge!) As stated 
above, there appear to be very few people around who master this ancient 
art.

Lastly, any pointers as to where I might start my journey? Books, 
papers, FAQ's, blogs, code snippets, language definitions, podcasts, etc.?

.tsooJ