Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment (IDE) provides check-out and check-in capabilities to the source code management (SCM) system. Typically, it supports the language and coding practices of the developer, enables building the modified code within the sandbox, and drives unit tests as part of the coding phase.
The broad adoption of Git as an SCM has created a healthy ecosystem of tools interfacing with it, particularly IDEs with integrated Git capabilities. We embrace a "Bring Your Own IDE" approach, meaning we encourage flexibility in choice of IDE by both enterprises and individual developers to maximize their productivity.
Common IDE options for z/OS application development
IBM provides different IDE options to support different developer preferences:
- Eclipse-based: IBM® Developer for z/OS® (IDz)
- Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extensions: IBM Z® Open Editor (and IBM Z Open Debug) are free of charge. These extensions are also available bundled together into IBM Developer for z/OS on VS Code, which additionally allows users to obtain software support and access advanced capabilities.
You might have some assets that still rely on tooling only available on z/OS. One option for working with these is to use the open-source Git ISPF Client, which is a tool for ISPF users to interact with Git repositories and drive DBB user builds. This tool is maintained by the open-source community.
Resources
This page contains reformatted excerpts from Packaging and Deployment Strategies in an Open and Modern CI/CD Pipeline focusing on Mainframe Software Development.