LINK or XC LINK

I saw this question and answer and was surprised by your answer.

"I have two separate CICS programs. One CICS program can invoke another CICS program. This can be done in two ways, namely CALL statement or LINK command. I would like to know when to use the CALL statement and LINK command?

You should always use XC LINK to access another program. If you can statically link the second program to the first, then by all means use the language-dependant CALL function. But then you do not get a general use of the second module."

Could you please supply more information on why you should always use XC LINK. I have written software that has a large number of subprograms which are dynamically called and the performance is much better than when LINK were used.

Well, you have got to realize that the situation changes somewhat depending upon the application structure. Statically linked modules are always going to be quicker than any other access. However, other considerations apply especially when thinking about Language Environment enclaves. You will find that use of non-statically linked modules will have different characteristics and so more generalized considerations will apply.

Don't forget that advice in this forum is general, not specific.

Robert Harris
Inventor
CICS Technical Strategist -- CICS expert at Search390.com

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