You can use COBOL, OO COBOL, C, C++, Java™, PL/I, or Assembler language to write CICS® application programs to run on z/OS®. Most of the processing logic is expressed in standard language statements, but you use CICS commands, or the Java and C++ class libraries, to request CICS services.

Most of the time, you use the CICS command level programming interface, EXEC CICS. This is the case for COBOL, OO COBOL, C, C++, PL/I and assembler programs. These commands are defined in detail in the CICS Application Programming Reference.

Programming in Java with the JCICS class library is described in the section on Java applications in the CICS component of the CICS Information Center.

Programming in C++ with the CICS C++ classes is described in the CICS C++ OO Class Libraries documentation.