Level 1: BCS MTP Applications Developer
Below are details of the skills that must be demonstrated in
the examination in order to succeed at this level, and the prerequisite
education and/or experience expected.
Examination
In order to qualify as a Level 1 BCS Mainframe Technology Professional Applications Developer the candidate will sit a formal examination, in invigilated test conditions.
The disciplines and knowledge tested will comprise:
- TSO/ISPF
- Job Control Language (JCL)
- COBOL programming or Assembler programming
- Testing at the program level (optional)
- Structured program design (optional)
- SELCOPY (optional)
Skills demonstrated
In order to succeed at this stage and to qualify as a Level 1 Mainframe Technology Professional (Applications Developer), candidates will be expected to:
demonstrate an ability to use TSO/ISPF by:
- using basic TSO commands and customising ISPF
- browsing and editing data sets
- editing using COPY, MOVE, REPEAT, DELETE, OVERLAY etc.
- using COPY and MOVE utilities
- using SEARCH and COMPARE utilities
- navigating the ISPF panels
demonstrate an ability to use z/OS JCL by answering questions on:
- jobcard parameters
- Exec parameters
- STEPNAME syntax
- use of COND
- in-stream data
- DD statements
- DCB attributes
- DISPOSITION
- STEPLIB
- using SYSOUT
- procedures & symbolics
- INCLUDE & JCLLIB
- GDGs
demonstrate an ability to write COBOL programs by answering questions on the following:
- Introduction
- Divisions of a COBOL program
- COBOL character set
- Words
- Constants
- Rules for continuation
- Punctuation rules
- COBOL coding format
- IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
- ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
- CONFIGURATION SECTION
- INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION
- DATA DIVISION
- File Description
- Data Description
- Level number
- Data-name / FILLER clause
- REDEFINES clause
- BLANK WHEN ZERO clause
- PICTURE clause
- Data types (alphabetic, alphanumeric and numeric)
- PROCEDURE DIVISION
- OPEN statement
- CLOSE statement
- READ statement
- WRITE statement (disks, cartridges and tapes)
- MOVE statement
- Program Control
- GO TO statement
- PERFORM statement
- PERFORM with TIMES statement
- PERFORM with UNTIL statement
- EXIT statement
- STOP statement
- DATA DIVISION
- VALUE clause
- SIGN IS clause
- USAGE clause (DISPLAY, COMP, COMP-3)
- Data Types - Numeric
- 88 levels
- PROCEDURE DIVISION
- Conditional Expressions
- Relation condition
- Class condition
- Sign condition
- Condition-Name condition
- Complex condition
- Order of evaluation of conditional statements
- IF statement
- EVALUATE statement
- SET statement
- DISPLAY statement
- ACCEPT statement
- Arithmetic statements
- ADD statement
- SUBTRACT statement
- MULTIPLY statement
- DIVIDE statement
- COMPUTE statement
(optional to COBOL) demonstrate an ability to use Assembler by answering questions on:
- what is allowed in Assembler source
- what is Object & Load
- Assembler Directives such as using GET, PUT etc.
- Machine code instruction formats such as RR, RX etc.
- Assembler Syntax
- Validity of common instructions
- what common instructions do
- interpret simple coding instructions
demonstrate Testing skills by:
- listing the requirements for testing at the Programming Level
- explaining what is meant by White Box and Black Box testing and the differences between them
- defining the steps by which Program Testing is accomplished
- reviewing test data for a simple program and predicting correct test results
- evaluating test results
- recognising errors of reasonable difficulty and making corrections to the program design and/or code.
(optional) demonstrate an understanding of structured programming by:
- defining the programming function and its responsibilities and where it fits into the Systems Development Cycle
- listing the problems related to unstructured program design
- defining the key features of structured program Design and its relationship to Data Structures
- listing the key elements of structured design and the rules of their use
- defining the key stages in the structured design process
- recognising circumstances in which there is a need for Read Ahead
- evaluating the validity of a design structure for a simple specification
- creating a design structure for a simple program.
(optional) demonstrate an ability to use SELCOPY answering questions on the following:
- Logic flow, control card syntax and logical operations.
- READ/WRITE parameters
including VSAM options, update, insert and delete.
- Deferred open/close processing
of datasets.
- Use of EQUATE control statements for work area mapping.
- pointers and their
different uses.
- Field testing and modification.
- The various POS keywords.
- Create printed reports, controlling report headings
and print options.
- Perform arithmetic calculations and conversions.
- Use of sub-routines.
- Multiple input using dirdata and concatenation.
- Dynamic allocation of datasets.
- Control statements for database access to
DB/2, IMS and DL/1.
- Bit manipulation and testing.
- Interpretation of error messages and error
correction.
- Utilise the Interactive SELCOPY Debug environment.
Prerequisite knowledge/experience
Candidates for the Level 1 BCS MTP (Applications Developer) qualification will be expected to have twelve months experience in a mainframe-based data centre. In this period the candidate will have attended a number of foundation level training courses or have gained equivalent experience and expertise in the workplace.
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