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Source Program Maintenance Online II
open-in-new
<p>Source Program Maintenance Online II (with abbreviations such as SPM, SPM/OL, or SPMOL-II, and pronounced "S-P-M" or, informally, "Spimoli"), is an <a href="/facts/IBM/QszA7nwd">IBM</a> software product of the late 1970s and early 1980s that provided an online environment for <a href="/facts/Computer_programmer/WGTS1Jv9">computer programmers</a> working on <a href="/facts/IBM_mainframe/0kPkgADx">IBM mainframe</a> systems. It ran under the <a href="/facts/CICS/BNRGFat7">CICS</a> teleprocessing monitor and was used via an <a href="/facts/IBM_3270/QKeJWI7t">IBM 3270</a> video display terminal. </p><p>The basic purpose of SPM was to allow the creation and editing of <a href="/facts/COBOL/wVnhqs0k">COBOL</a> or other programming language <a href="/facts/Source_code/o9J6Jv23">source code</a>, and the submitting of those source programs for <a href="/facts/Compiler/WNfCDFJe">compilation</a>, in an online fashion instead of using decks of <a href="/facts/Punched_card/44WsPulQ">punched cards</a>. Source programs could be stored on disk under SPM and retrieved for editing and submitted as a batch job stream. Accordingly, SPM, as one IBM document stated, "Extends the power of a CICS on-line system to programmers and systems programmers via a 3270." In this way, <a href="/facts/Programming_productivity/EH2cnWvG">programming productivity</a> could be improved. </p><p>In IBM's product hierarchy, SPM was a <a href="/facts/IBM_Type-III_Library/CyyxV7hK">Field Developed Program</a>. SPM was a popular choice for IBM mainframe sites seeking an online editing environment that were not running <a href="/facts/MVS/VPSmB9ML">MVS</a>/<a href="/facts/Time_Sharing_Option/1jQFtL1r">TSO</a> or <a href="/facts/VM%2fCMS/Ymu9SRtX">VM/CMS</a>. </p>