Introduction

TSO/E is a base element of the z/OS operating system that allows users to interactively work with the system.

You can use TSO/E in any one of the following three environments:

The Information Center Facility
Perhaps the easiest way to use TSO/E is through the Information Center Facility. It uses panels and provides a way to display services such as:
- Office support – (mail, names directory)
- Decision support – (data analysis)
- Document preparation – (reports, charts, graphs)
More information about the Information Center Facility is in Using the Information Center Facility.
ISPF/PDF
The Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) and its Program Development Facility (ISPF/PDF) work together with TSO/E to provide panels with which users can interact. ISPF provides the underlying dialog management service that displays panels and enables a user to navigate through the panels. ISPF/PDF is a dialog of ISPF that helps maintain libraries of information in TSO/E and allows a user to manage the library through facilities such as browse, edit, and utilities.

More information about ISPF/PDF is in Using ISPF/PDF, Using data sets, and Sending data to a printer or to another user.
Line Mode TSO/E
The way programmers originally communicated interactively with the MVS™ operating system was with TSO/E commands typed on a terminal, one line at a time. It is a quick and direct way to use TSO/E.

More information about line mode TSO/E is in Using line mode TSO/E, Using data sets, and Sending data to a printer or to another user.

TSO/E is a powerful tool for both programmers and non-programmers. The introduction of new products and the use of ISPF is moving TSO/E from a programmer's tool to a highly flexible subsystem that delivers computing resources to the user. Now anyone can use TSO/E to do many diverse tasks in several environments. This document shows you how to do some of the basic tasks.