The z/Architecture is specified by the following documents:
Only the non optional features of z/Architecture processor instruction set may be assumed to be present. An application is responsible for determining if any additional instruction set features are available before using those additional features. If a feature is not present, then the application may not use it.
Applications conforming to this specification must provide feedback to the user if a feature that is required for correct execution of the application is not present. Applications conforming to this specification should attempt to execute in a diminished capacity if a required instruction set feature is not present.
This specfication does not provide any performance guarantees of a conforming system. A system conforming to this specification may be implemented in either hardware or software.