Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

Hi,

In a recent interview I've been asked this - What is DB2 precompiler process and why we need it?

I got an answer like that to have the SQL part separate we'd need precompiler but I need to more about it. Can someone please explain.

Regards,

Google is your friend. Googling db2 precompile returns about 36,300 hits and in the summary of one of the hits on the first page is

The DB2 precompiler scans a program and copies all of the SQL statements and host variable information into a DBRM (database request module).

For a quick short answer this might help - Pre-compile (precompile) creates the DBRM, as Robert has also said. DBRM is optimized and a set of access paths is created. This is called a package. Then, the package is added to a BIND PLAN. PLAN can be a group of packages, however, in any case - it allows to create a "search path" for the user program/s.

I'll try to come back with a longer answer later.

Thanks Robert and Anuj.

This answer helps, though, I'd wait for long reply too Anuj ..