The project contains example codes for many of the languages available on the MVS 3.8J turnkey systems. Several test cases have been implemented with equivalent logic in the available languages. JES2 jobs are provided to 'compile-link-go' the codes with the available compilers (in some cases several for one language). Test jobs, which generate detailed output for verification, as well as benchmark jobs, which consume a significant amount of CPU time, are provided.
The test cases are chosen to test different aspects of languages and are identified by a 4 character case ID:
| Case ID | Description | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| hewo | The classical 'Hello Word' | Get minimal program producing output |
| sine | Line printer plot of sine and cosine | Test basic text & character handling |
| soep | Sieve of Eratosthenes prime search (byte) | Test integer array handling and formatted output |
| soeq | Sieve of Eratosthenes prime search (bit) | Test bit handling |
| towh | Tower of Hanoi solver | Test recursive function calls |
| mcpi | Monte Carlo estimate of pi | Test floating point arithmetic |
The cases were implemented with essentially the same basic logic in all languages so that one can compare the code quality of the compilers. The algorithms should also be short and simple, so that an assembler implementation is feasible. The links in the Case-Id column point to a description of the test case. The pick of cases is highly biased by the background of the author, see 'Author's Note' section in each of the READMEs.
The tk4- system contains a nice selection of languages and compilers which are for further reference identified by a 3 or 4 character compiler ID.
| Language | Compiler IDs |
|---|---|
| Algol 60 | a60 |
| Assembler | asm |
| C | gcc, jcc |
| COBOL | cob |
| FORTRAN-4 | forg, forh, forw |
| Pascal | pas |
| PL/I | pli |
| Simula | sim |
Consult the Compiler README for more information on the compilers and the options used, and the benchmark summary for an overview of some benchmark runs and a compiler ranking.
The test cases were, if possible, implemented in these languages. The Language-Case matrix with all Language - Case combinations is shown in the README of the codes directory.
For each Language-Case combination one or several batch jobs are provided in the jobs directory. See README for the Case - Job Type table explaining all available jobs types and the Compiler-Case matrix listing all available jobs. The later also includes a list of known issues.
Moshe Bar covered the langtest and herc-tools suites in tutorials entitled
Test your IBM MVS 3.8 compilers and benchmark your Hercules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH0dlylJVCY
Building an MVS printout distribution system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF677Z3Zidw
This is part of the moshix suite of mainframe (mostly MVS) related tutorials.
The project files are organized in directories as
| Directory | Content |
|---|---|
| codes | the codes |
| herc-tools | the herc-tools project as submodule, mainly for access to hercjis |
| jcl | JCL job templates |
| jobs | the jobs |
| sios | the mvs38j-sios project as submodule, simple I/O system asm code |
| tests | some test programs |
This project is released under the GPL V3 license, all files contain a SPDX-style disclaimer:
SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
The full text of the GPL license is in this directory as License.txt.