Developing an application under CICS

Certain coding restrictions apply when you develop an application to run under CICS®. Examples are:
  • Input/output restrictions — CICS provides its own I/O facilities using various EXEC CICS commands.
  • Multitasking — CICS has its own multitasking capability.

After you code your application, you must run it through a CICS translator. The translator accepts as input an application containing EXEC CICS commands and produces as output an equivalent application in which each CICS command has been translated into the language of the source. The CICS translator runs in a separate job step. The job step sequence for preparing and running an application under CICS is:

  1. Code
  2. Translate
  3. Compile
  4. Prelink
  5. Link-edit
  6. Run

C coding restrictions are described in z/OS XL C/C++ Programming Guide. COBOL restrictions are discussed in the applicable version of the COBOL programming guide in the COBOL library at Enterprise COBOL for z/OS library. Examples of PL/I coding restrictions under CICS are discussed in PL/I coding considerations under CICS.

For more information about developing an application under CICS, go to the IBM Knowledge Center at http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cicsts/v3r1/index.jsp.

Parent topic: Running applications under CICS