Meaning – The term data set, means a collection of data. In the context of an IBM mainframe computer, a data set is defined as a computer file having a record organisation.
Any named group of records is also referred to as a data set. These data sets can hold different types of information, such as medical records of a hospital or insurance records for a bank. Whenever there is a list of data to be stored in an organised manner, data sets are most definitely used.
Data sets are also used to store information needed by applications or the operating system itself, such as source programs, macro libraries, or system variables or parameters.
Example of usage – “The employee was tasked with creating a data set of the number of leaves taken by his group in the calendar year.”