z/OS V2.1 XL C/C++ is an optional priced feature of the z/OS V2.1. It enables you to develop high-performing business applications and system programs on z/OS. It has the capability to fully exploit System z architectures, including the latest IBM zEC12 and zBC12 servers. This product is scheduled to GA with z/OS v2.1 on Sept. 30, 2013.
z/OS V2.1 XL C/C++ provides significant performance improvements over z/OS V1.13 XL C/C++, especially in 64-bit mode. Performance of compute-intensive integer benchmarks improved 11% (6% in 31-bit mode); and compute-intensive floating-point benchmarks improved 4% (1% in 31-bit mode).
The z/OS V2.1 XL C/C++ compiler introduced support for OpenMP V3.1 API specifications. This industry-standard API consists of a collection of compiler directives and library routines designed to enable you to create portable C/C++ applications that exploit shared-memory parallelism. This new feature allows you to create parallel applications that can take advantage of the multicore design of modern System z processors. It also improved capabilities for porting C and C++ applications to IBM System z servers. It added support for a number of new language features in C11 and C++ 11 standards; and GNU C/C++ language extensions.
This new compiler also improved capabilities with the “METAL C” option which is designed to simplify system program development on z/OS. Enhancements to Metal C enable: AMODE-switching applications to be optimized by Inter-procedural Analysis (IPA) to improve performance; creation of alternate entry point providing the semantics of the function “main” to improve usability; and fine tuning of the SYSTATE macro. It also includes new Pack Decimal built-ins to improve support for the data type. These built-ins are available for both C/C++ and Metal C programs.
z/OS v2.1 XL C/C++ allows developers to debug optimized code. Developers can now use Debug Tool to debug optimized production code written in C and C++. It allows you the flexibility to choose a debugging level that effectively maximizes the performance of the application while allowing the required level of debugging capabilities.
There are many new and exciting features in this new version to help you create high quality and high performance C/C++ applications.