<s>
CA-EZTEST	O
was	O
a	O
CICS	B-Application
interactive	O
test/debug	O
software	O
package	O
distributed	O
by	O
Computer	O
Associates	O
and	O
originally	O
called	O
EZTEST/CICS	O
,	O
produced	O
by	O
Capex	O
Corporation	O
of	O
Phoenix	O
,	O
Arizona	O
with	O
assistance	O
from	O
Ken	O
Dakin	O
from	O
England	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
product	O
provided	O
source	O
level	O
test	O
and	O
debugging	O
features	O
for	O
computer	B-Application
programs	I-Application
written	O
in	O
COBOL	B-Application
,	O
PL/I	B-Language
and	O
Assembler	B-Language
(	O
BAL	O
)	O
languages	O
to	O
complement	O
their	O
own	O
existing	O
COBOL	B-Application
optimizer	B-Application
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CA-EZTEST	O
initially	O
competed	O
with	O
three	O
rival	O
products	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1991	O
,	O
Computer	O
Associates	O
International	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
acquired	O
On-line	O
Software	O
and	O
renamed	O
the	O
product	O
CA-INTERTEST	O
,	O
then	O
stopped	O
selling	O
CA-EZTEST	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OLIVER	O
(	O
CICS	B-Application
interactive	O
test/debug	O
)	O
from	O
Advanced	O
Programming	O
Techniques	O
in	O
the	O
UK	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Between	O
them	O
,	O
these	O
three	O
products	O
provided	O
much	O
needed	O
third-party	O
system	B-Application
software	I-Application
support	O
for	O
IBM	O
's	O
"	O
flagship	O
"	O
teleprocessing	B-General_Concept
product	O
CICS	B-Application
,	O
which	O
survived	O
for	O
more	O
than	O
20	O
years	O
as	O
a	O
strategic	O
product	O
without	O
any	O
memory	B-General_Concept
protection	I-General_Concept
of	O
its	O
own	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
single	O
"	O
rogue	O
"	O
application	O
program	O
(	O
frequently	O
by	O
a	O
buffer	B-General_Concept
overflow	I-General_Concept
)	O
could	O
accidentally	O
overwrite	O
data	O
almost	O
anywhere	O
in	O
the	O
address	O
space	O
causing	O
"	O
down-time	O
"	O
for	O
the	O
entire	O
teleprocessing	B-General_Concept
system	O
,	O
possibly	O
supporting	O
thousands	O
of	O
remote	O
terminals	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
despite	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
world	O
's	O
banking	O
and	O
other	O
commerce	O
relied	O
heavily	O
on	O
CICS	B-Application
for	O
secure	O
transaction	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
between	O
1970	O
and	O
early	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
difficulty	O
in	O
deciding	O
which	O
application	O
program	O
caused	O
the	O
problem	O
was	O
often	O
insurmountable	O
and	O
frequently	O
the	O
system	O
would	O
be	O
restarted	O
without	O
spending	O
many	O
hours	O
investigated	O
very	O
large	O
(	O
and	O
initially	O
unformatted	O
)	O
"	O
core	B-Error_Name
dump	I-Error_Name
"	O
s	O
requiring	O
expert	O
system	B-Application
programming	I-Application
support	O
and	O
knowledge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
the	O
product	O
(	O
and	O
its	O
competitors	O
)	O
provided	O
an	O
integrated	O
testing	O
environment	O
which	O
was	O
not	O
provided	O
by	O
IBM	O
for	O
early	O
versions	O
of	O
CICS	B-Application
and	O
which	O
was	O
only	O
partially	O
satisfied	O
with	O
their	O
later	O
embedded	O
testing	O
tool	O
—	O
"	O
Execution	O
Diagnostic	O
Facility	O
"	O
(	O
EDF	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
only	O
helped	O
newer	O
"	O
Command	O
level	O
"	O
programmers	O
and	O
provided	O
no	O
protection	O
.	O
</s>
