CICS
CICS (Customer Information Control System) is an IBM transaction processing system that runs on mainframe computers, primarily used for high-volume, mission-critical business applications. It provides a robust environment for developing and executing online transaction processing (OLTP) programs, handling tasks like data access, security, and communication with terminals or other systems. CICS is widely deployed in industries such as banking, insurance, and government for applications like ATMs, airline reservations, and financial trading systems.
Developers should learn CICS if they work in legacy mainframe environments or industries that rely on high-reliability transaction processing, such as finance or large-scale enterprise systems. It is essential for maintaining and modernizing existing CICS applications, integrating them with newer technologies, or developing new OLTP solutions where performance and data integrity are critical. Knowledge of CICS is valuable for roles involving mainframe development, system integration, or application support in organizations with long-standing IBM infrastructure.