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application programming languages CICS support for compilers and application programming language versions that are withdrawn from service	Assembler COBOL C/C++ Java Node.js PL/I REXX	Changes to the CICS translator, by release of CICS TS for z/OS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CICS support for compilers and application programming language versions that are withdrawn from service

Periodically, assemblers, compilers, and application programming language versions are withdrawn from service.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 usable 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	5.6	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	5.6	6.1	6.2
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.4	5655-EC6	✓	✓	✓
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.3	5655-EC6	✓	✓	✓

C and C++

The following versions of XL C/C++ are optional features of z/OS.

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

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	5.6	6.1	6.2	6.3
IBM® Semeru Runtime® Certified Edition for z/OS, 21.0	5655-JB1	✓ APAR PH64034	✓ APAR PH64035	✓ APAR PH64035	✓
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	✓	✓
IBM 64-bit SDK for z/OS, Java Technology Edition, Version 8	5655-DGH	✓	✓	✓

Java 11Java 17Java 21 IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS 11.0, IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS 17.0 and IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS 21.0 are not supported for use with:

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

6.3 Support for SAML using the CICS Security Token Service is removed as of CICS TS 6.3.

Node.js

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

Node.js 18.0 is end-of-service.

PL/I

Table 6. Support for Enterprise PL/I for z/OS, by release of CICS TS
Product name	PID	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	5.6	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 fails with return code 8.