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Appendix F. REXX/CICS Business Value Discussion
CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX provides an ideal system to deliver superior, valuable, and
appropriate CICS-based business solutions in a more timely and cost-effective manner.
Business Solutions
The ability to deliver business solutions more quickly is an important advantage in today's competitive
marketplace.
v CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX is a simple, uniform, self-contained development
environment
CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX supports development directly under CICS and provides
much of what the average CICS developer needs in one manageable package.
REXX is a high-level language that is natural to use and frees the programmer from unnecessary detail.
REXX programs tend to be shorter and easier to follow than programs written in other languages. To
use REXX for CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX a new programmer does not have to learn
JCL, COBOL or significant technical detail of CICS (such as the CICS translator).
v CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX allows solutions to be delivered quickly
These programs enable gains in application productivity and may reduce delivery time. The REXX
language boosts application productivity because of its high level, simplicity, strong parsing,
"naturalness," and interpretive support. The interpreter provides a reduced development cycle and has
excellent source-level interactive debugging capability.
v CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX makes incremental development a reality
Larger, more sophisticated development efforts are feasible and productivity improvements can be
achieved by using the powerful interactive source-level debugging capability and the fast development
cycle of the REXX interpreter. The interpreter, with its fast, natural development cycle and excellent
source-based interactive debugging, better enables the switch to an Incremental Development
Methodology (also known as Prototyping Development Methodology).
With this methodology, REXX can be used for quick and expressive prototyping. Because of the special
performance techniques used and the robustness of the language, REXX is also suitable for
professional application development.
CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX provides an ideal environment where prototypes can be
developed quickly to test system feasibility and get user involvement. The prototypes can then be
"grown" into useful production systems.
Prototyping reduces the possibility of finding out late in the development cycle that the project is not
technically feasible or cannot deliver what the customers want. An additional benefit of incremental
development is that the code is tested more thoroughly during development and may result in much
higher quality.
v CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX applications are manageable and easy to maintain
and support.
High-level, REXX-based applications are usually smaller than comparable applications in other
languages (in lines of code) and are easier to read and understand. The interactive source-level
debugging capability of the REXX interpreter simplifies problem determination and resolution, making
REXX-based applications less expensive to support and enhance.
CICS Transaction Server for VSE/ESA REXX organizes (breaks down) complex systems and makes
them more manageable. REXX provides a natural building block approach made up of execs,
application macros, and subcommands implemented transparently in a variety of languages. Closely
related is the built-in client/server computing support that encourages greater host involvement in the
enterprise-wide client/server distributed computing model. Another benefit of ESA/VSE is the facilities it
has for integrating multiple applications, products, and system facilities into one seamless package,
which can simplify systems development efforts.
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