Communication between PC and mainframe via TCP/IP using APL

ABSTRACT

There is a growing demand to be able to process data, maintained within large mainframe databases, using Windows based workstations, thus making communication between workstation and mainframe necessary. The availability of the APL language on both platforms simplifies this problem tremendously, and offers the potential to use almost identical code on both systems. The workspaces (for APL+WIN 3.0 and APL2 Mainframe) written by the authors, allow the user to run a stateless server on one platform, which can then process incoming requests from any platform using TCP/IP. (A host-to-host communication facility is not yet provided.) Several specific server commands let multiple users interact individually with the server, e.g. to combine GUI and mainframe data or to plot mainframe data directly using standard software products such as MS-EXCEL.

REFERENCES

• 1: APL+WIN for Windows Version 3, REFERENCE MANUAL, APL2000, 1997.
• 2: APL2 Programming: System Service Reference, Version 2 Release 1, IBM, march 1992 (SH21-1054-00).
• 3: C. HOESLE-KIENZLEN: APL, TCP/IP und andere Sprachen: Eine ideaIe Ehe. APL-Journal Germany, Jahrgang 18, Nr. 1, Mai 1999.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications

          Nouns: APL

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.2 Network Protocols

          Nouns: TCP/IP
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems
          Subjects: Client/server

General Terms:
Algorithms, Languages

Keywords:
APL, PC, TCP/IP, client, mainframe, server, spreadsheet