On Thursday, 12-29-1994  Tom Brown wrote to All about "VisualGen" as
follows:

TB> I am looking for some information regarding IBM's VisualGen.  I've
TB> seen some really impressive demos of VisualAge in which they said
TB> that it has the functionality required to access both DB/2 and CICS.
TB>  Why do we need VisualGen?  Perhaps I don't understand the scope and
TB> goals of the product.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Tom,

The VisualGen product is a code generator that generates a language
called Cross-System Product, or CSP. This language, as its name
implies, is portable in the extreme. If you generate a program under
OS/2 to run under CICS/2, that same program will port very readily to
CICS/ESA, if you have a decent sized mainframe handy, or even IMS/ESA,
if you have an indecently large mainframe at your disposal.

The CSP language is also quite easy to code and maintain. I am
slightly surprised that it hasn't caught on more than it has; it has
been available on mainframes since the mid 1980's.

From your message, I suspect you believe that CICS/2 and DB2/2 can
provide applications without any further programming. This is not so.
CICS needs transactions to be written in some application language
(CSP is the easiest to code, PL/I the most closely integrated, COBOL the
most widely used) and DB2 needs a host language to issue SQL commands to
retrieve and update data from its database. VisualGen's ability to
generate CSP provides the extra functions that bring CICS, DB2 and the
end-user's application together.

Regards

Dave

 * KWQ/2 1.2i * When it comes to paradigms, shift happens...
--- Maximus/2 2.02