The OpenVMS User's Guide

Rating:
Summary: Really saved my bacon
Review: I bought this book when I was assigned to an OpenVMS project at work. I was a UNIX developer/admin with absolutely no VMS experience at all, and needed to get up to speed fast. This book really came through and saved my bacon.

The book covers all the basics you need to get up and running with VMS. Logging in, navigating the filesystem, editing files and writing DCL scripts. I already knew ANSI C programming, which this book doesn't cover, and used the VMS help system and Google searches to discover what I needed to know about the programming libraries. The book didn't cover those deeper programming topics, but it gave me all the tools I needed to find my way around the system, edit my programs, compile and run them. It really was a lifesaver.

Rating:
Summary: Good Beginner's Guide To OpenVMS
Review: This is an excellent beginner's guide to OpenVMS. It assumes virtually no computer experience at all, and goes through logging in and control keys at the beginning. But it also has chapters on file management, the file system, editing documents with EDT and EVE, the PHONE and MAIL utilities, symbols, Digital Command Language, security and program development. No prior exeprience at programming is assumed. There is a command index of the most commonly used DCL commands in the appendices. the book takes a hands-on approach and you will need access to a VMS box to actually get much out of the book. Hobbyist kits are now available for a reasonable price from Compaq, so that might be a good place to start if you don't have access via the Internet. A great user's guide. No CS theory is in the book, just basic use.