Changes to CICS support for application programming languages

This section lists application programming languages that are supported by the CICS run time and translator across in-service CICS releases. It also summarizes changes to the CICS translator across in-service CICS releases.

All COBOL, PL/I, and C/C++ compilers listed here can use the integrated CICS translator for CICS online programs and for batch programs using the External CICS Interface (EXCI) command level API.

If you are upgrading from an end-of-service release, you can find information about the changes that are relevant to those releases in Summary of changes from end-of-service releases.

Support overview	Listing of supported languages	The CICS translator
CICS support for application programming languages CICS support for compilers and application programming language versions that are withdrawn from service	Assembler COBOL C/C++ Java™ Node.js PL/I REXX	Changes to the CICS translator, by release of CICS TS for z/OS

CICS support for application programming languages

For details about CICS support for a specific application programming language and for changes in the CICS support in a specific release, refer to the language and compiler documentation.

For information about the availability and end of service dates for IBM application programming products, see Software lifecycle information in IBM Support.

CICS support for compilers and application programming language versions that are withdrawn from service

Periodically, assemblers, compilers, and application programming language versions are withdrawn from service. This can happen within the supported lifetime of a CICS release. Although continued compatibility is not necessarily affected within CICS at this point, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade the level of your environments to use the in-service equivalents of such unsupported assemblers, compilers, or application programming language versions before their end of service dates. IBM does not guarantee that such unsupported environments will remain useable within the CICS release after this point.

Supported application programming languages and compilers, by release of CICS TS for z/OS

The following tables provide an overview of the releases of application programming languages and compilers that CICS TS for z/OS® supports across in-service releases.

Assembler

Table 1. Support for Assembler, by release of CICS TS
Product name PID	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
High Level Assembler for MVS and VM and VSE 1.6 and later 5696-234	✓	✓	✓	✓

COBOL

Table 2. Support for Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, by release of CICS TS
Product name PID	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.4 5655-EC6	✓	✓	✓	✓
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.3 5655-EC6	✓	✓	✓	✓
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2 5655-EC6	✓	✓	✓	✓

C and C++

Table 3. Support for XL C/C++, by release of CICS TS
Product name PID	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
z/OS 2.4.1 XL C/C++ 5655-121 Optional feature of z/OS	✓	✓	✓	✓
z/OS 2.4 XL C/C++ 5655-121 Optional feature of z/OS	✓	✓	✓	✓
z/OS 2.3.1 XL C/C++ 5655-121 Optional feature of z/OS	✓	✓	✓	✓
z/OS 2.3 XL C/C++ 5655-121 Optional feature of z/OS	✓	✓	✓	✓

Java

The following versions of Java are required to run CICS Java applications, WebSphere Application Server Liberty, Axis2, web services validation, the CICS web services and XML assistants.

Table 4. Support for Java SDK, by release of CICS TS
Product name PID	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
IBM® Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS, 17.0 5655-UA1		✓ APAR PH55278	✓ APAR PH55279	✓
IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS, 11.0 5655-DGJ	✓ APAR PH47221	✓ APAR PH47221	✓	✓
IBM 64-bit SDK for z/OS, Java Technology Edition, Version 8 5655-DGH	✓	✓	✓	✓

Note: IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS 11.0 is not supported for use with:

Axis2 JVM servers at CICS TS 5.5
SAML JVM servers at all CICS releases.

Node.js

Table 5. Support for IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Node.js, by release of CICS TS
Product name PID	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Node.js, 18.0 5655-NOJ	✓ APAR PH30707	✓ APAR PH30707	✓	✓
IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Node.js, 16.0 5655-NOE	✓ APAR PH30707	✓ APAR PH30707	✓	✓

PL/I

Table 6. Support for Enterprise PL/I for z/OS, by release of CICS TS
Product name PID	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
Enterprise PL/I for z/OS 6.1 5655-PL6	✓	✓	✓	✓
Enterprise PL/I for z/OS 5.3 5655-PL5	✓	✓	✓	✓

REXX

Table 7. Support for REXX, by release of CICS TS
Product	5.5	5.6	6.1	6.2
REXX/CICS	✓	✓	✓	✓

Changes to the CICS translator, by release of CICS TS for z/OS

Table 8 summarizes the changes to the integrated CICS translator that can be used for CICS applications, across supported CICS releases.

Table 8. Changes to the CICS translator, by release of CICS TS
Release	Change
6.2	CHANGED: The translator will still check for synonyms but will no longer attempt to overcome spelling mistakes by substituting what it thinks was meant. Instead, the translator will fail with return code 8.
5.5	WITHDRAWN: The CICS translator no longer inserts the COBOL LIB parameter into the CBL card when compiling COBOL programs.
5.5	CHANGED: The CICS translator can now process the restricted commands parmlib member DFHAPIR, which contains rules that identify restricted CICS API and SPI commands. The CICS translator attempts to read a DFHAPIR member and issues information messages indicating either that the member was not found or the parmlib in which the member was found. During translation, the translator detects whether source programs are using any of the restricted commands and keywords, and will generate warning or error messages in case of violation. Note that CICS already mandates that the SDFHLOAD library must not be APF-authorized. With this enhancement the CICS translator uses z/OS services to read the DFHAPIR member and use of those services will result in a U0101 abend if SDFHLOAD is APF-authorized.