IBM’s Systems Application Architecture (SAA) is designed to provide a standard set of interfaces for computing by both application developers and end users. SAA is being developed to provide a consistent development and user environment over all of IBM’s major computing systems. This book provides a general introduction to SAA and a detailed examination of the Common User Access (CUA) component of SAA. CUA is the part of SAA that defines a standard set of capabilities that can be used to develop the SAA user interface for an application.

The book has 19 chapters that are grouped into six parts. Part 1 provides a general introduction to SAA and a more specific introduction to CUA. Part 2 describes the CUA “advanced interface,” which is used to develop user interfaces for applications that support programmable workstations. Presentation techniques and interactive and dialogue techniques are discussed for a graphical/windowed environment. Part 3 describes the CUA “basic interface,” which is used for developing user interfaces for applications that run on nonprogrammable terminals that have limited graphical capabilities. This part also discusses basic presentation and interaction techniques. Part 4 discusses basic principles of user interface design. It also presents user interface design guidelines provided in a report by the MITRE Corporation and in user interface design information provided by Apple Computer for development in the Macintosh environment. Part 5 describes the relationship between SAA’s CUA and its Common Programming Interface, which provides the capability for an SAA application developer to implement a user interface. Part 6 discusses a number of implementations of user interfaces using CUA. These include the user interfaces for IBM’s OS/2; an IBM office support product called OfficeVision that runs on a variety of SAA computing systems; IBM’s Interactive System Productivity System, which provides interactive services in MVS and VM environments; and IBM’s OS/400 operating system.

The book is well written, with excellent use of graphics, figures, tables, and fonts. The organization of the book provides for easy use by the casual browser or the serious designer or developer. Although supplying technical information about SAA and CUA is the primary goal of the book, it also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of SAA. This book should be a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning about SAA and an important tool for the SAA application developer.