Systems Application Architecture
Encyclopedia
Systems Application Architecture (SAA) is a set of standards for computer software
, developed by IBM
in the 1980s and implemented in IBM
operating system
s including MVS
, OS/400
and OS/2
. AIX, IBM's version of the UNIX
operating system, is not a target of SAA, but does have interoperability with the SAA family.
The purpose of the standard was to enable the development of interoperable software on different platforms and operating systems. The most important of the standards are:
Of these, only the CUA, which standardizes parts of the user interface
, remains influential.
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
, developed by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
in the 1980s and implemented in IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s including MVS
MVS
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers...
, OS/400
OS/400
IBM i is an EBCDIC based operating system that runs on IBM Power Systems. It is the current evolution of the operating system named i5/OS which was originally named OS/400 when it was introduced with the AS/400 computer system in 1988....
and OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
. AIX, IBM's version of the UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
operating system, is not a target of SAA, but does have interoperability with the SAA family.
The purpose of the standard was to enable the development of interoperable software on different platforms and operating systems. The most important of the standards are:
- Common Programming Interface (CPI) - COBOLCOBOLCOBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
, FortranFortranFortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
, CC (programming language)C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, REXXREXXREXX is an interpreted programming language that was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language that was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read... - Common User AccessCommon User AccessCommon User Access is a standard for user interfaces to operating systems and computer programs. It was developed by IBM and first published in 1987 as part of their Systems Application Architecture...
(CUA) - Common Communication Support (CCS) - SNA
Of these, only the CUA, which standardizes parts of the user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
, remains influential.