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'''Systems Application Architecture''' ('''SAA'''), introduced in 1987,<ref>{{cite web|title=IBM Archives: 1980s|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1987.html|website=IBM|date=23 January 2003|publisher=IBM}}</ref> is a set of standards for [[computer software]] developed by [[IBM]]. The SAA initiative was started in 1987 under the leadership of [[Earl Wheeler]], the "Father of SAA".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bride|first1=Ed|last2=Desmond|first2=John|title=Wheeler: father of SAA - IBM VP and General manager of programming Systems Division Earl Wheeler; Systems Application Architecture - interview|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SMG/is_n15_v9/ai_8048960/|access-date=June 20, 2012|newspaper=Software Magazine|date=Dec 1989}}</ref> The intent was to implement SAA in IBM [[operating system]]ssystems including [[MVS]], [[OS/400]] and [[OS/2]]. [[IBM AIX|AIX]]—IBM's version of the [[UNIX]] operating system—was not a target of SAA, but does have interoperability with the SAA family.
SAA did not define new standards, but selected from among IBM's existing guidelines and software. IBM also purchased some third party software from developers such as [[Bachman Information Systems]], Index Technology, Inc., and [[KnowledgeWare|KnowledgeWare, Inc.]]<ref>{{cite news|title=IBM kauft sich für SAA Software-Know-how ein|url=http://www.computerwoche.de/heftarchiv/1989/35/1151816/|access-date=June 21, 2012|newspaper=Computerwoche|date=1989-08-25|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130210202313/http://www.computerwoche.de/heftarchiv/1989/35/1151816/|archive-date=2013-02-10|url-status=dead}}</ref> These were intended to be implemented uniformly across all SAA compliant environments.
The standard was "designed to make application programs look and work in the same manner across the entire range of the company's personal computing systems, midrange processors and System/370 processors."<ref>{{cite web|last=IBM Corporation|title=IBM Archives: 1987|date=23 January 2003|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1987.html}}</ref>
SAA was labeled "complex, obscure, and potentially difficult to learn."<ref name=Linnell>{{cite book|last=Linnell|first=Dennis|title=The SAA Handbook|year=1990|publisher=Addison-Wesley|isbn=0-201-51786-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVkPAQAAMAAJ}}</ref>{{rp|p.xi}}
Under [[Louis V. Gerstner Jr.|Lou Gerstner]] IBM later quietly discontinued use of the "SAA" [[Umbrella term|umbrella]]. By 2001, SAA was being spoken of in the past tense.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cooper|first=Charles|title=Gerstner's legacy and why it matters|url=http://www.zdnetasia.com/gerstners-legacy-and-why-it-matters-38030327.htm|access-date=June 20, 2012|newspaper=ZDNet|date=November 2, 2001}}</ref> However many of the individual components of SAA are still in use {{as of|2014|lc=y}}.
==Common programming interface (CPI)==
The '''Common Programming Interface''' attempted to standardize compilers and [[application programming interface]]s among all systems participating in SAA, with the objective of providing "a common programming interface for the entire IBM computer product line - PCs, System/3x, System/370. This implies that under SAA, a program written for any IBM machine will run on any other".<ref name=Perna>{{cite web|last=Perna|first=Janet|title=SHARE 70: Session D010 - SAA Strategy Update: Application Software Support|url=http://www.redbug.org/dba/sharerpt/share70/d010.html|access-date=June 18, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130503091759/http://www.redbug.org/dba/sharerpt/share70/d010.html|archive-date=2013-05-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
CPI included a number of pieces:<ref name="Linnell">{{cite book |title=The SAA Handbook}}</ref>{{rp|pp.46–51}}
* Programming languages — [[PL/I]], [[COBOL]], [[Fortran]], [[C (programming language)|C]], [[IBM RPG|RPG]] and [[REXX]]
* Application generator — [[IBM Cross System Product (CSP)]]
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