
Amdahl COBOL Language
Amdahl COBOL Components
Amdahl COBOL is a comprehensive set of tools for developing, testing,
debugging, and maintaining business applications. The base Amdahl COBOL
product consists of:
- Compiler
- COBOL Native Code Generator
- COBOL Run Time System (RTS)
- ANIMATOR
- PROFILER
- Conversion Series 3 (RM/COBOL Version 2)
- Conversion Series 5 (DG I-COBOL Version 1)
- ADISCF (ACCEPT/DISPLAY configuration)
- KEYBCF (keyboard configuration)
- FORMS-2 Screen Painter
- FHUTILS File Handler Utilities
Large-scale business application development
Amdahl COBOL for the UTS(R) system, based on Micro Focus COBOL for UNIX(R) systems,
delivers the ideal client/server production platform on a mainframe for
large-scale, mission-critical business applications.
Product highlights
- ANSI, SAA, and X/Open(R) COBOL compatibility
- Portability across more than 500 platforms
- Support for several popular mainframe and proprietary syntaxes and behaviors
- UNIX systems programming power
- Integrated preprocessor support
- Screen-handling productivity aids
- High performance enhancements
Amdahl COBOL language products for the UTS system are a complete
compiler package for high-performance COBOL applications development. These
products support the highest level of ANSI standard COBOL syntax along with
many other syntax dialects, including those of IBM's mainframe COBOL compilers.
The Amdahl COBOL language products are members in Amdahl's growing family of
A+Performance Engineered(TM) products.
Product features
Amdahl COBOL language for the UTS system, along with the optional Amdahl COBOL
Toolbox, Amdahl COBOL Dialog System, and Operating System Extensions (OSX)
features, deliver a high-performance COBOL environment for mission-critical
business applications.
Running on System/390-compatible processors with the UTS operating system,
Amdahl COBOL enables enterprises with large investments in COBOL business
applications to enjoy the flexibility of a large-scale open systems
environment. Amdahl COBOL provides a migration path for COBOL applications
from minicomputer, microcomputer, and proprietary mainframes.
Amdahl COBOL is based on the popular Micro Focus COBOL v3.1 for
UNIX systems. Amdahl COBOL provides all the features and
functionality of that product plus unique enhancements required for high
performance, high capacity applications.
Amdahl enhancements
- 64-bit file addressing
- Tape handling enhancements
- Accelerated sort routine
- Linkage to C programs
New COBOL application development paradigm
As enterprises introduce open systems and client/server environments into their
information management solutions, the requirement for application portability
and compatibility across multiple environments increases. Amdahl COBOL products
offer the flexibility to solve these requirements in several ways.
Migration from proprietary mainframe environments. Customers with large
investments in COBOL business applications want to leverage their existing
investments and take advantage of the portability of open systems to meet their
future business needs. Amdahl COBOL for the UTS system provides the means to
migrate from a proprietary to a distributed open environment using existing
information technology resources. If appropriate, these COBOL applications can
be distributed later to a variety of platforms in the enterprise for local
operation.
Centralized management for distributed computing. Amdahl COBOL for the
UTS system offers a secure data center environment for critical applications.
Enterprises can develop and maintain distributed business applications under a
single point of control, providing improved operations management and
reusability of applications source code. Application development and
maintenance tasks can be offloaded to the desktop, yet application source code
can be kept under centralized control. Source files and test data are
available to developers from either desktop or mainframe platforms.
Compatibility is assured due to identical tools in both environments.
Centralized mini computer consolidation. Amdahl COBOL offers a robust
data center environment for mission-critical applications with the required
scalability for consolidation of COBOL work-load from smaller computing
platforms. Consolidations are greatly simplified through support of popular
COBOL dialects. The result is reduced operational costs and preservation of
existing skill sets and computing resources when migrating from proprietary
mini computer systems.
Large-scale application development. Amdahl COBOL for the UTS system
gives programmers the capacity and performance they need to develop large
business applications rapidly for an open system environment. The high I/O
capacity and large-scale processing power of the UTS system enables fast
execution of the generated applications during testing and provides an ideal
platform for large production workloads.
COBOL applications that are developed, maintained, and executed under the UTS
system take full advantage of all UTS system capabilities.
Standard COBOL utilities
The Amdahl COBOL product contains various features and utilities in addition to
the language compiler. Major capabilities include:
ANIMATOR. This unique utility for visual program analysis improves
debugging productivity. ANIMATOR displays the source code of a program on
screen while it is executing. Programs may be animated completely or partially,
one step at a time, continuously, or at variable speeds. Programmers can
toggle between screens displaying source code and execution results for
improved analysis.
FORMS-2. This utility provides a powerful visual programming
tool for the generation of interactive screen-handling programs. It allows the
programmer to use the keyboard to paint a form directly on the screen, exactly
as it will appear to the user at run time. COBOL source code is generated
automatically from FORMS-2, and included in the application program.
Run Time System (RTS). This key component of Amdahl COBOL operates as
the gateway between COBOL applications and UTS system services. The RTS
permits execution of Amdahl COBOL modules in both an intermediate format and a
compiled format. It conserves execution memory through dynamic loading and
execution of modules. The RTS also uses environment variables for
execution-time mapping of file names.
Optional COBOL tools and utilities
Amdahl COBOL Toolbox. Amdahl COBOL Toolbox is an integrated and closely
coupled collection of programmer productivity aids and utilities distributed as
an add-on product to the base Amdahl COBOL product. These tools facilitate the
development process, ease application distribution, and help create suitable
target environments for application systems. Amdahl COBOL Toolbox is
especially useful for developing portable applications and applications
designed for use on homogeneous and heterogeneous networks.
Features include:
- Integrated development enviroment
- Screen design and COBOL source code generation
- Client/server file handling with Fileshare
- Common communications interface for TCP/IP
- Portable graphical user interface support
Amdahl COBOL Dialog System.
This product is a complete user
interface management system, enabling developers to prototype and create
character-based user interfaces for a wide variety of operating systems. Its
architecture makes it particularly suitable for use in client/server
applications.
Amdahl COBOL Dialog System separates details of the user interface from the
underlying business application logic. This allows the user interface to grow
and evolve without requiring changes to the program. Amdahl COBOL Dialog
System is designed to be used by developers with no knowledge of user interface
programming APIs.
Amdahl COBOL Operating System Extensions (OSX).
This feature
provides a common base of operating facilities across multiple operating
systems. Its purpose is to provide a "level playing field" for application
portability, regardless of the operating systems on which the applications run.
OSX includes the COBOL Run Time System, common programming APIs for
communication, presentation, data access, and more.
Amdahl enhancements
64-bit file addressing. Amdahl has modified the filehandler (mFFH) in
RTS to address files larger than 2 gigabyte size. All other existing functions
work in exactly the same manner. The difference is that with Amdahl COBOL the
file size will be increased to a 64-bit field.
Existing programs binaries can access the new 64-bit files when used with the
new RTS. Re-compiled programs can access the old 32-bit format files and
64-bit format files. As all access will be via mFFH in the RTS, the indexed
file format will be automatically detected and handled accordingly.
Tape handling enhancements. New with this release, Amdahl COBOL
supports use of the MULTIPLE REEL clause for I/O operations to tape. The COBOL
RTS will recognize and read, as well as write, standard IBM tape labels.
With this tape handling enhancement, the user will be able to read and write
tapes that can be exchanged with any platform or operating system that
recognizes IBM standard labels.
Accelerated sort routine. Amdahl has improved the sort algorithm in
Micro Focus COBOL and optimized it for the System/390 architecture. This gives
applications developed with Amdahl COBOL the ability to sort data files up to
25 times faster than applications developed with the standard sort routine.
Linkage to C programs. Amdahl has extended the standard Micro Focus
inter-language calling facilities to handle the UTS system APIs.
Interface capabilities include:
- Ability to manipulate data and procedure pointers
- Setting of bits and bytes
- Recursive calls to programs
- Ability to manipulate Expanded Fundamental Types (EFT) data
As a result, Amdahl COBOL programs have direct access to unique UTS system resources
enabling the efficient mixing of business and system operations in a single application program.
Standards Conformance
To ensure that applications can be ported across different platforms, Amdahl
COBOL conforms to these standards:
- The higher level of ANSI 1985 and 1974 COBOL language definition
- FIPS Standard COBOL
- X/Open Portability Guide 4 (XPG4) specifications
Amdahl COBOL also supports the following popular syntax dialects:
- IBM OS/VS COBOL
- IBM OS/VS COBOL II
(Releases 1, 2, and 3)
- IBM COBOL/2
- IBM SAA COBOL
- Microsoft COBOL
- RM/COBOL
- DG Interactive COBOL
Portability
Amdahl COBOL generates an intermediate level of code that is fully portable across
more than 500 platforms. Portability can be both at the source level using one of the
standard supported syntax dialects, or at the object level using intermediate (.int)
object code, which can be created in one environment and run on all other environments
using vendor-supplied Micro Focus COBOL Run Time Systems for the target platforms.
Native machine code can be created in all environments from the portable intermediate
code. The native machine code has the advantage that it executes optimally for that
environment.
SQL support
Amdahl COBOL works with the following databases:
- Informix
- Ingres
- Oracle
- Unify
Embedded SQL preprocessors can be obtained from the RDBMS vendors.
Benefits
Use of Amdahl COBOL language products and the UTS system provides standard
APIs for cross-platform development; support for large, high-performance databases
for customers who value capacity, reliability, and availability; and centralized
file services. Amdahl COBOL and the UTS system meet the challenges of bringing computing
resources closer to the end-user while integrating legacy systems with new technologies.
Additional Information
Support and Service. Amdahl COBOL products are fully supported by Amdahl's highly
rated Customer Service Organization. Central Site support is included in the
license fee. Periodic maintenance updates are provided at no additional charge
to licensed users of record at the time of update.
Pricing. Amdahl COBOL products are offered as optional, separately priced
features. To obtain prices, terms and conditions, or additional information about
these products, contact your local Amdahl representative
Amdahl and UTS are registered trademarks and the A+ logo and A+Performance Engineered are
trademarks of Amdahl Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and
other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.X/Open is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limited. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The information in this document may be superseded by subsequent documents. For
details regarding delivery of specific products, features, and services,
contact your local Amdahl representative.
(c) 1995. Amdahl Corporation. All rights reserved. MM002090-001