This chapter presents a model of the logical parts of a DB2 application and discusses the individual strengths of the supported DB2 programming APIs. Programmers who are new to developing a DB2 application should read the entire chapter closely.
The application development process described in this book assumes that you have established the appropriate operating environment. This means that the following are properly installed and configured:
For details on how to accomplish these tasks, see the Application Building Guide and Quick Beginnings books for your operating environment.
You can develop applications at a server, or on any client, that has the DB2 Software Developer's Kit (DB2 SDK) installed. You can run applications with either the server, the DB2 Run-Time Client, or the DB2 Administrative Client. You can also develop Java JDBC programs on one of these clients, provided that you install the "Java Enablement" component when you install the client. That means you can execute any DB2 application on these clients. However, unless you also install the DB2 SDK with these clients, you can only develop JDBC applications on them.
DB2 supports the C, C++, Java (SQLJ), COBOL, and FORTRAN programming languages through its precompilers. In addition, DB2 provides support for the REXX and Java (JDBC) dynamically interpreted languages. For information on the specific precompilers provided by DB2, and the languages supported on your platform, refer to the Application Building Guide.
| Note: | The FORTRAN and REXX interfaces support only the function up to and including DB2 Version 5.2. |
DB2 provides a sample database which you require when running the supplied sample programs. For information about the sample database and its contents, refer to the SQL Reference.