What this book is about

This book gives guidance about the development of procedural application programs that use the CICS® EXEC application programming interface to access CICS services and resources; it complements the reference information in the CICS Application Programming Reference manual. For guidance information on debugging such CICS applications, see the CICS Problem Determination Guide. For guidance on developing application programs using the Java™ language, see Java Applications in CICS, and for guidance on using the CICS OO classes, see CICS C++ OO Class Libraries.

Who should read this book

This book is mainly for experienced application programmers. Those who are relatively new to CICS should be able to understand it. If you are a system programmer or system analyst, you should still find it useful.

What you need to know to understand this book

You must be able to program in COBOL, C, C++, PL/I, or assembler language, and have a basic knowledge of CICS application programming, at the Designing and Programming CICS Applications level.

How to use this book

Read the parts covering what you need to know. (Each part has a full table of contents to help you find what you want.) The book is a guide, not a reference manual. On your first reading, it probably helps to work through any one part of it more or less from start to finish.

Notes on terminology

API
refers to the CICS command-level application programming interface unless otherwise stated.
ASM
is sometimes used as the abbreviation for assembler language.
MVS™
refers to the operating system, which can be either an element of z/OS® , OS/390®, or MVS/Enterprise System Architecture System Product (MVS/ESA SP).
VTAM®
refers to ACF/VTAM.

In the sample programs described in this book, the dollar symbol ($) is used as a national currency symbol and is assumed to be assigned the EBCDIC code point X'5B'. In some countries a different currency symbol, for example the pound symbol (£), or the yen symbol (¥), is assigned the same EBCDIC code point. In these countries, the appropriate currency symbol should be used instead of the dollar symbol.

What is not covered in this book

Guidance for usage of the CICS Front End Programming Interface is not discussed in this book. See the CICS Front End Programming Interface User’s Guide for background information about FEPI design considerations and programming information about its API.

Guidance for usage of the EXEC CICS WEB commands is not discussed in this book. See the CICS Internet Guide for this information.

Guidance for the use of object oriented programming languages and techniques is not included in this book. For guidance on developing application programs using the Java language, see Java Applications in CICS, and for guidance on using the CICS OO classes, see CICS C++ OO Class Libraries.

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