I/O interfaces
- C Stream I/O
- This is the default and the ISO-defined I/O method. This method processes all input and output on a per-character basis.
- Record I/O
- The library can also process your input and output by record. A record is a set of data that is treated as a unit. It can also process VSAM data sets by record. Record I/O is a z/OS XL C/C++ extension to the ISO standard.
- TCP/IP Sockets I/O
- z/OS UNIX System
Services provides support for an enhanced version of an industry-accepted
protocol for client/server communication that is known as sockets. A set of C language functions provides
support for z/OS UNIX sockets. z/OS UNIX sockets
correspond closely to the sockets used by UNIX applications that use the Berkeley Software
Distribution (BSD) 4.3 standard (also known as Berkeley sockets).
The slightly different interface of the X/Open CAE Specification,
Networking Services, Issue 4, is supplied as an additional choice.
This interface is known as X/Open Sockets.
The z/OS UNIX socket application program interface (API) provides support for both UNIX domain sockets and Internet domain sockets. UNIX domain sockets, or local sockets, allow interprocess communication within z/OS, independent of TCP/IP. Local sockets behave like traditional UNIX sockets and allow processes to communicate with one another on a single system. With Internet sockets, application programs can communicate with each other in the network using TCP/IP.
In addition, the Standard C++ Library provides stream classes, which support formatted I/O in C++. You can code sophisticated I/O statements easily and clearly, and define input and output for your own data types. This helps improve the maintainability of programs that use input and output.