What is RJE and how does it relate to file transfer?
RJE is an acronym for Remote Job Entry. In the early days of computing submitting jobs (i.e., programs and data) to a mainframe computer was typically done by transmitting punch cards from an RJE terminal. The mainframe would process the job, usually taking its own sweet time in doing so, and the results would eventually come to the terminal in the form of output printed to the printer and/or punched out onto a new set of cards. Back then disk storage was extremely expensive and therefore “data files” as we know them today did not exist outside of the mainframe. But as computers got smaller and their cost came down, there was an increasing need to move data files more from one computer to another. SNA/RJE was already in place and lent itself perfectly to performing file transfers as well as remote printing. It is still used for that purpose today particularly between PCs and mainframes.
RJE is an acronym for Remote Job Entry. In the early days of computing submitting jobs (i.e., programs and data) to a mainframe computer was typically done by transmitting punch cards from an RJE terminal. The mainframe would process the job, usually taking its own sweet time in doing so, and the results would eventually come to the terminal in the form of output printed to the printer and/or punched out onto a new set of cards. Back then disk storage was extremely expensive and therefore “data files” as we know them today did not exist outside of the mainframe. But as computers got smaller and their cost came down, there was an increasing need to move data files more from one computer to another. The 3780 RJE protocol was already in place and lent itself perfectly to performing file transfers — so, in a sense, 3780 RJE communications was reborn as a file transfer mechanism between a wide variety of computer platforms. It is still used for that purpose today, particularly between PCs
