Customer information control system (CICS) is a wide-spread transaction system of IBM.

It is under /390-Gro ssrechner operating systems z/OS (MVS) and VSE as well as, in modified form as Encina extension, available under Windows NT, OS/2, AIX, HP-UX, Sinix, Solaris as well as digitally Unix.

Discussion

Depending upon country the abbreviation CICS is differently expressed:

• In Germany mostly as zicks: Without CICS runs nix!.
• In Great Britain rather as kicks
• In the USA both discussions (kicks or lake eye sea ess) are common.

Application development under CICS

The programming languages COBOL, C, C++, spread traditionally on Mainframes, are supported PL/I and assembler since some years also Java.

The application API for OO-languages does not consist commands, which are translated by a into the guest language of EXEC CICS"…. -. Appropriate CICS classes are to Java programmers at the disposal.

Transactions in the CICS

A CICS transaction consists of one or more Logical a unit OF Work (LUW). A LUW is what is understood in the literature by a transaction and connected with the term ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, isolation and Durability).

Each CICS transaction runs under a pre-defined transaction code four digit. This transaction code specifies among other things the names of the program, which receives the execution supervision with the start of the transaction.

With the start of the transaction a LUW begins, with the command EXEC CICS SYNCPOINT the current LUW terminated (commited) and a new LUW is begun. The transaction ends with EXEC CICS RETURN and terminates also the current LUW with SYNCPOINT.Eine CICS transaction develops traditionally

• by input of a transaction code at a terminal (and/or in the terminal emulation of a PC)
• from another CICS application with START TRANSID ()
• CICS internally: e.g. Trigger on TD-queues.
• from another CICS with Transaction Routing or Distributed Program left (DPL).

CICS transactions can be started by programs also of "„outside "“:

• EXCI call out z/OS (MVS, multiple Virtual STORAGE), e.g. TSO (time-sharing option) or batch processing.
• In the MVS of the operator console and/or of software consoles (e.g. TSO, Netview).
• Eci call of not MVS platforms (Unix, Windows, OS/2)
• Use of standard minutes:
  • TCP/IP Sockets and APPC (Advanced Program ton of Program Communications)
  • IIOP (Internet inter ORB Protocol) for CORBA applications and Enterprise Java Beans
  • by means of HTTP/HTTPS one can use CICS also as Web servers

History of CICS

According to Bob Yelavich is Ben Riggins the father of CICS.

Numerous myths climb around the prefix of the CICS messages DFH. Bob Yelavich points out that this letter combination was simply assigned by IBM and it concerns no abbreviation (see CIM and the prefix <tt>DFS<tt>), some sources however states, the first CICS a product of a local current offerer with the company name abbreviation D.F.H would have been and by IBM was bought later.

The true history of CICS cannot be clarified today any longer, clearly is only that CICS emerged in the early 70's and not from IBM was original.

Future of CICS

CICS is used world-wide in numerous large enterprises. Since CICS is constantly developed further can assume and the current versions both usual programming languages and C/C++ and Java to support, and appropriate interfaces to the Internet (CICS Web support) to have, one the market for CICS will remain relatively stable at least in the next years. In the new customer market segment CICS must maintain ground in the future opposite one ever more largely becoming competition also on economical servers and/or host with high availability which are based systems.

Literature

• CICS Application Programming Guide
• Norbert Denne: CICS. Theory and practice. 3. Edition. DGD, 2002, ISBN 3929187078

Related links

• ibm.com - CICS manuals (English).
• - CICS of manuals

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