Murach's CICS for the COBOL Programmer
I’m delighted to announce a NEW, single-volume version of our CICS series, now entitled "Murach’s CICS for the COBOL Programmer." This is the material that’s trained more than 150,000 COBOL programmers to use CICS over the years, now thoroughly updated with the latest versions of CICS, along with new information that deals with the past (guidelines for maintaining CICS programs) and the future (an intro to component-based design and web programming with CICS). Beyond that, we’ve completely re-organized the book to meet today’s need for fast-paced training. Not only will you write your first CICS program sooner. But you’ll also get all the information in the paired-pages format that our customers like so well in our DB2, COBOL, and Visual Basic books. That makes the book ideal for reference, as well as training. In fact, you can’t find a more professionally-oriented CICS course anywhere, at any price.Here’s what to expect from Murach’s CICS for the COBOL Programmer: Two books for the price of one We’ve combined our two-part CICS series into a single, streamlined volume that covers what you need to know in today’s CICS shop.The latest versions of CICS This book now covers up through the latest versions of CICS, including CICS Transaction Server (yet it still includes what you need to know if you’re maintaining older, legacy systems).A faster start In chapter 2, you’ll learn how a complete CICS program works. And by the end of section 2 (just 6 chapters), you’ll be able to design, code, and test CICS programs on your own.The best program design techniques The requirements of pseudo-conversational programming makes CICS program design a challenge. Find out how to use event-driven design to keep your programs logical and easy to code.Professional coding models 12 full programs and dozens of coding segments provide you with time-saving models to use in coding your own programs.Paired pages for quick knowledge & reference All the information is presented in “paired pages,” with the essential details and examples on the right and the perspective on the left. You read less and learn faster!A look at where CICS is headed Learn how to design, code, and test modular programs in which CICS is used for what it does best: transaction processing on the mainframe (then, other languages like Java or Visual Basic can be used for the user interface).A real-world introduction to web programming See what’s involved in developing CICS applications for the Internet. Here again, IBM is providing ways for CICS to be used for the business logic while other languages are used for the user interface.Here’s how we present CICS in this book: Section 1: Get started right Begin with the essential CICS concepts and terms, then see how all the pieces of a CICS program work together.Section 2: Start developing your own CICS programs Here you’ll learn how to design, code, and test any CICS program. That includes learning how to create the BMS mapset that defines the user interface.Section 3: Other features you’ll use regularly Temporary storage queues, data editing routines, terminal handling techniques, error processing routines, debugging tools, and more!Section 4: A complete CICS application Specs, design, BMS mapsets, symbolic maps, and complete CICS/COBOL listings for the interrelated programs in an invoicing application.Section 5: File and database handling This section presents special-purpose features for handling VSAM files and teaches how to process DB2 data in CICS programs.Section 6: Advanced CICS features and skills Find out about other CICS control features…CICS intercommunication features…Old code you may run into during maintenance…How to design and code programs for web-based and distributed applications.