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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
From: [e-mail] (William M. Klein)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.cobol,alt.cobol,comp.answers,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: COBOL FAQ
Supersedes: <computer-lang/[e-mail]>
Followup-To: comp.lang.cobol
Date: 25 Nov 1998 14:11:09 GMT
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Approved: [e-mail]
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Message-ID: <computer-lang/[e-mail]>
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Summary: Frequently Asked Questions about COBOL and their answers.
X-Last-Updated: 1998/04/23
Originator: [e-mail]
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.lang.cobol:45199 alt.cobol:14198 comp.answers:34008 alt.answers:38251 news.answers:145255

Archive-name: computer-lang/cobol-faq
Posting-Frequency: twice a month
Last-Modified: 1998/04/22
Version: 2.09
URL: http://www.netcom.com/~wmklein/cobolfaq.htm
Reply-To: [e-mail]

                            COBOL FAQ
                  (Frequently Asked Questions)

Last-Modified: Wednesday, April 22, 1998
(For  details of what technical items have changed so far, please
see Appendix A.4 - Changes to create Version 2.0x.)
This page accessed ___ times

Version: 2.09
Additional  information  and corrections are  encouraged.  Please
send comments to
     [e-mail]

CONTENTS
     NOTE: As this FAQ is still under "reconstruction," there may
     be items out of their logical order (for example incorrectly
     alphabetized.  Similarly, there may  still  be  missing  and
     inserted "odd" section numbers. All of these items  will  be
     fixed eventually, but not necessarily soon.
 1. Copying this FAQ
2. Where can I get this FAQ?
2.1 Where do I turn if my question isn't answered in this FAQ?
3. Where can I get a COBOL compiler?
3.1 for DOS, Windows or OS/2?
3.2 for Windows/NT or Windows/95?
3.3 for UNIX?
3.4 for Linux?
3.5 for the Macintosh?
3.6 for other environments?
4. Is there a free COBOL compiler?
4.1 for DOS, Windows or OS/2?
4.2 for Windows/NT or Windows/95?
4.3 for UNIX?
4.4 for the Macintosh?
4.4a for Amiga?
4.5 for other environments?
5. Commercial COBOL Products
5.1 Acucorp
5.2 Computer Associates/Realia
5.3 Fujitsu Software
5.4 Liant/RM
5.5 Micro Focus
5.6 PCYACC
6. Where can I contact...
6.1 Acucorp?
6.1a Fujitsu
6.2 Liant?
6.3 Micro Focus?
6.4 CA?
6.5 RM?
6.6 mbp ?
6.8 Sinc Inc.?
6.9 Flexus?
6.10 Siber Systems
7. COBOL standards.
7.1 What standards exist?
7.2 Can I get the standards via FTP?
7.3  What  is happening with the draft of the next COBOL Standard
and what is in it?
8. COBOL 6.50
8.1 How do I compile my programs?
8.2 How do I link my objects?
9. What about OO COBOL?
9.1 ANSI and ISO Work
9.2 Micro Focus
9.3 IBM
9.4 Others
10. Books about COBOL
10.5 "COBOL For Dummies"
10.22 "Teach Yourself COBOL in 21 Days",
11. Is there a COBOL to C converter?
12. COBOL code generators
12.1 T CA-Telon and CA-Telon PWS (Programmable Workstation
13. COBOL Tools
13.1 Creating GUI's
13.1.1 VanGui for RM/COBOL
13.1.2 From Acucorp
13.1.3 Flexus COBOL spII
13.1.4 CA-Visual Realia
13.1.5 Fujitsu PowerCOBOL
13.2 Sinc Inc. products
13.2.1 FlexGen 4GL Rapid Application Development Environment
13.2.2 Legacy Liberator COBOL Migration Toolset
13.2.3 Easy Query
13.2.4 ODBC Access Tools
13.3 Siber Systems
13.3.1 CobolTransformer
13.3.2 Cbl-Beau
13.3.3 Mf2Fsc
13.4 What about Year 2000 Tools?
13.4.1 CA-Fix/2000™
13.5 Misc. tools
14. Other sources of information.
14.1 CompuServe
14.2 Bix
14.3 Micro Focus Faxback
14.4 Micro Focus WWW server
14.5 CA WWW server
14.6 Liant Ryan McFarland WWW server
14.7 Acucorp WWW server
14.8 The COBOL Foundation
14.9 The IBM COBOL products WWW server
14.10 The Flexus WWW server
14.11 COBOL User Groups
15. Information required for the FAQ
16. Contributors to the FAQ
17. What about the Y2K (Millenium) Issue?
17.1 Where can I get information about the Y2K problem?
18. What can/should I post in the COBOL newsgroups?
18.1 Can I get help with homework via the newsgroups?
18.2  Can  I post job openings in the newsgroups and if  so  what
should I include?
 Appendix A. Changes in recent revisions
Appendix A.1 - Changes to create Version 2.0
Appendix A.2 - Changes to create Version 2.05
Appendix A.3 - Changes to create Version 2.08
Appendix A.4 - Changes to create Version 2.0x

1. Copying this FAQ.
This FAQ is copyright 1994-1998 by William M. Klein.
It  may  be  freely  redistributed as long as  it  is  completely
unmodified and that no attempt is made to restrict any  recipient
from  redistributing it on the same terms. It may not be sold  or
incorporated  into  commercial  documents  without  the   written
permission of the copyright holder.
Permission is granted for this document to be made available  for
file  transfer from sites offering unrestricted file transfer  on
the Internet and from the COBOL Forums on CompuServe and Bix.
This  document  is  provided as is, without  any  warranty.  Your
mileage may vary.

2. Where can I get this FAQ?
This  document should be archived at many sites on the  Internet,
including  rtfm.mit.edu -- the archive site for all FAQs.  It  is
also     available     via     e-mail     from     the     author
([e-mail]).
An HTML version of the latest FAQ is also available from
     http://www.netcom.com/~wmklein/cobolfaq.htm

2.1 Where do I turn if my question isn't answered in this FAQ?
If you have access to the web, then you should go to
http://www.dejanews.com/home_ps.shtml
Then  enter "comp.lang.cobol" as the group and whatever  you  are
looking  for as the subject. The chances are that you  will  find
more  than enough answers already (and many quite recent) to your
question. If you don't find an answer here, then look at 18. What
can/should I post in the COBOL newsgroups?

3. Where can I get a COBOL compiler?
There  are many vendors who sell COBOL compilers. Almost  all  of
the  mainframe  hardware/operating system vendors,  also  sell  a
COBOL  compiler for their systems. The following are some of  the
vendors providing COBOL compilers for systems where they are  not
the operating system vendor.

3.1 for DOS, Windows, or OS/2?
Acucorp,  CA,  Fujitsu, Liant, IBM, and Micro Focus  all  produce
compilers  for one or more of these environments. Microsoft  used
to re-badge the Micro Focus compiler, but not any more.

3.2 for Windows/NT or Windows/95?
Micro  Focus has a 32-bit development environment for Windows  95
and Windows/NT called NetExpress. A student version of NetExpress
is also available from Micro Focus. Fujitsu's compiler also works
under  both Windows/95 and Windows/NT. Liant has both 16 bit  and
32  bit  development systems for Windows, Win95 and NT.  Computer
Associates' CA-Realia II Workbench Release 3.0 provides a  32-bit
COBOL  compiler and runtime. IBM's VisualAge for  COBOL  is  also
available for Windows/NT.

3.3 for UNIX?
Acucorp,  Fujitsu, Liant, and Micro Focus have products available
across  a  large  number of UNIX platforms.  Some  OEMs  re-badge
and/or re-engineer these products for their own systems too.
Liant used to provide LPI COBOL for Sun SPARC with Solaris 2,  HP
9000  with  HP-UX and Intel-based machines with UNIX SVR4,  SVR3,
and SCO. They no longer make this product.
IBM sells its COBOLSet for AIX.

3.4 for Linux?
AcuCOBOL-85  and AcuCOBOL-GT are available for Linux.  Also,  the
iBCS2 code for Linux should mean that it is possible to get  some
of the i486 COBOL packages for operating systems such as SCO UNIX
to work.
There  were reports that earlier versions of Micro Focus products
worked   under   SCO  UNIX  emulations  under   Linux.   However,
representatives from Micro Focus doubt that this would  still  be
true with their current compiler technology.

3.5 for the Macintosh?
Acucorp  produces a COBOL development system for the Mac  running
A/UX.

3.6 for other environments?
Fujitsu COBOL is also available for IBM MVS and Fujitsu MSP.
Ryan McFarland COBOL is also available for OpenVMS.
AcuCOBOL-85  and  AcuCOBOL-GT are available on a  wide  range  of
environments, including OpenVMS.
Most  major vendors have their own COBOL implementation, or  have
someone else's ported to their platform(s). There are quite a few
available for CP/M and MP/M, and one is even rumored to have been
available for the PERQ workstation.

4. Is there a free COBOL compiler?
Just for the record, no COBOL tools are listed in the Catalog  of
compilers,  interpreters,  and other  language  tools  posted  to
comp.compilers and comp.lang.misc. This probably means that there
are no freely available COBOL compiler sources.
However, there are a number of free compilers that do not include
the  source. For example Fujitsu does offer a FREE COBOL  Starter
Set  for Windows. (See below for a list of various free compilers
and the environments in which they are available.)
Also  several books in the booklists come with a COBOL  compiler.
See section 10 for details.

4.1 for DOS, Windows or OS/2.
There  is  a freely available COBOL compiler for DOS. It  can  be
found  on  many archive sites, named COBOL650.ZIP. You also  need
DPATH30.ZIP. Have a read through Section 8 before you start.
Bob Wolfe has made the compiler available at the Flexus FTP site,
http://www.flexus.com.
It  is  widely  rumored that the sources for  this  compiler  are
available  from  a BBS. This no longer appears to  be  the  case.
Numerous  attempts  have  completely failed  to  track  down  the
sources.
There  is a COBOL701.ARJ archive that contains a version of COBOL

6.50  with a limited number of compiles. It was an attempt  at  a
full  integrated  development environment, including  an  editor.
Unfortunately, no documentation is included.
Also,  it  may  be  possible  to run the  freely  available  CP/M
compiler (see 4.5) under a freely available CP/M emulator.
In  addition,  Fujitsu  is currently offering  a  copy  of  their
Fujitsu COBOL V2 Enterprise Edition which includes PowerCOBOL  to
those who register at
     http://www.adtools.com/

4.2 for Windows/NT or Windows/95?
Fujitsu  is currently offering a copy of their Fujitsu  COBOL  V3
Starter Set to those who register at
     http://www.adtools.com/
The CP/M compiler/emulator combination should work here too.

4.3 for UNIX?
There are no well-documented examples of a freely available COBOL
compiler for UNIX. COBOL 6.50 might run under a UNIX emulation of
a  DOS  system,  however. (For example, VP/ix, SoftPC  or  dosemu
under Linux.)
The  CP/M compiler (see 4.5) should run under a CP/M emulator for
UNIX in a similar fashion.

4.4 for the Macintosh?
Not that I know of.

4.4a for Amiga?
According to [e-mail] (on March 2, 1998),
There  is  a  freely available COBOL compiler/interpreter  (Amiga
WB2.0+).  GUI/CLI, largely ANSI'85 compliant takes  the  form  of
Microsoft Cobol 2.xx ?)
This is available as postware via Aminet Dev/lang nrcobol_1?.lha

4.5 for other environments ?
There is a freely available CP/M COBOL compiler/interpreter  (NPS
Micro   COBOL).  This  is  available  via  anonymous   FTP   from
oak.oakland.edu  in  /pub/cpm/cobol.  However,   Stefano   Priola
([e-mail]) comments :
     "I've  used the CPM COBOL ... I think that this compiler  is
     much too old to use or for a student to learn COBOL."

5. Commercial COBOL Products
In order to present an un-biased list of commercial COBOL product
offerings  I've  pulled  in  the  product  overviews  from   each
company's    marketing   information.   For   detailed    product
descriptions, you should probably contact the specific vendor.

5.1.5 COBOL Workbench® v4.0
Workbench  integrates the industry-standard COBOL  compiler  with
development   and   testing   tools   that   promote   programmer
productivity,  satisfaction and quality systems  development.  It
features   powerful   editing,   debugging   and   communications
facilities  as  well  as graphical data  tools  -  all  within  a
powerful  and  easy to use development environment.  Micro  Focus
COBOL   Workbench  supports  the  creation  and  maintenance   of
enterprise-wide  client-server  applications   in   addition   to
offloading  development and maintenance of mainframe  application
to PCs.

5.1 Acucorp
5.1.1 AcuCOBOL-GT
AcuCOBOL-GT  enables COBOL programmers to implement  and  deliver
full-featured  GUI  COBOL  applications  on  any  of   over   600
platforms,  with full object code portability using a single  set
of   COBOL   source   code.  Programmers  can  create   graphical
applications including floating windows, graphical controls (such
as  entry  fields,  frames,  radio  buttons,  push  buttons,  and
labels),  menu bars, bitmaps, and toolbars using COBOL extensions
that are consistent with traditional COBOL syntax.

5.1.2 AcuCOBOL-85
AcuCOBOL-85  is  a  powerful ANSI-85 COBOL compiler  that  offers
exceptionally compact, highly optimized machine-independent COBOL
code.   AcuCOBOL-85  is  portable  across  over   600   different
platforms,  including: AIX, AOS/VS, BSD/OS, DG/UX, Digital  UNIX,
HP-UX,  Linux,  MS-DOS, MPE/iX, Open VMS, OS/2, Solaris,  Ultrix,
UNIX, UnixWare, Windows, Windows NT, and Xenix.

5.2 Computer Associates/Realia
5.2.1 CA-Realia® II Workbench
CA-Realia® II Workbench provides an exciting mainframe-compatible
COBOL  development environment on the PC. CA-Realia II  Workbench
uses  the  power of the PC environment to improve the development
and   maintenance   of   COBOL  and   CICS   applications.   This
revolutionary  technology provides a new and  exciting  graphical
user  interface (GUI) workstation environment that operates under
MS-Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT, and OS/2.
CA-Realia  II Workbench includes a high-speed COBOL compiler,  an
interactive  debugger,  a  COBOL-Intelligent  analyzer,  a   CICS
emulator,  a  COBOL-sensitive editor, and a complete  life  cycle
manager  with  mainframe  connectivity. Its  latest  version  for
Windows  NT  and Windows 95 includes a 32-bit COBOL compiler  and
runtime.  Its  mainframe  options  allow  mainframe-compiled  and
executing programs to be debugged and analyzed under the friendly
Workbench GUI

5.3 Fujitsu Software
5.3.1 Fujitsu COBOL
Fujitsu  COBOL is the highest performing, mission critical  COBOL
available  for  mainframe, UNIX, and Windows  platforms.  Fujitsu
COBOL supports IBM VS COBOL II, Micro Focus, and the latest  ANSI
and  ISO  standards and allows developers to access,  reuse,  and
retarget   their   existing   legacy   COBOL   applications   for
Client/Server  and Internet platforms while fully exploiting  all
the functions of Microsoft Windows 95/NT and BackOffice.

5.3.2 PowerCOBOLÔ
PowerCOBOL   is  a  visual,  object  oriented,  enterprise   wide
client/server Rapid Application Development(RAD) tool  for  COBOL
programmers.   The  PowerCOBOL  development  environment   allows
programmers  to  use  their  existing COBOL  knowledge  to  build
scaleable and maintainable state-of-the-art Windows two-tier  and
three-tier  client/server  and Internet  applications  with  data
access to local and remote databases.

5.3.3 NetCOBOLÔ
Fujitsu NetCOBOL is a revolutionary COBOL compiler that generates
100%  Pure Java Bytecode-based applications/applets from existing
legacy  COBOL programs. NetCOBOL programs execute on any  machine
which  supports  the  JavaÔ  Virtual Machine,  including  Network
Computers.   NetCOBOL  is  the  first  and  only  true   platform
independent COBOL compiler.

5.3.4 PowerBSORTÔ
PowerBSORT  is a high speed Business SORT, MERGE, and  COPY  tool
for  handling  large quantities of data. PowerBSORT significantly
shortens the time needed to sort, merge or copy data for business
processing.  PowerBSORT provides a record reconstruction  feature
that  creates an output record by relocating and combining fields
from  the input record with self-defined values. PowerBSORT same-
key  feature combines values from multiple records into a  single
record by adding the summation field values when records have the
same  key field value. The same-key feature is used with the sort
or merge functions.

5.3.5 PowerFORMÔ
PowerFORM  is  a  tool  for  designing  and  programming  printed
reports. These reports can use all fonts supported by the  target
printers  and  can include graphics such as boxes,  shading,  and
bitmaps.  COBOL  applications create  reports  by  writing  to  a
special  print  file, or they can gain greater control  by  using
PowerFORM RTS calls.

5.3.6 PowerGEM Plus
PowerGEM  Plus is a graphical tool for managing the versions  and
histories  of your development resources, including source  code,
screen  forms,  and  documents.  PowerGEM  Plus  makes  resources
available   to  multiple  users  simultaneously,  but   restricts
modification to a single user. Resources are thus protected,  and
modifications  are  traceable. PowerGEM  Plus  keeps  and  tracks
version  and  history statistics for each part of  a  development
project.

5.4 Liant/Ryan McFarland
5.4.1 RM/COBOL Compiler and Runtime System
RM/COBOL's  sophisticated runtime system permits the  maintenance
of  single  source and object code - and the easy  deployment  of
applications  on  a wide choice of open client/server  platforms.
Their  "claim  to fame" is that their compiler generates  objects
that are portable between platforms without recompiling. This  is
why  you need a runtime for the desired platform to interpret the
object

5.4.2 RM/Interface Builder
RM/COBOL developers can now use their choice of industry-standard
tools  such as Microsoft's Visual Basic and Borland's  Delphi  to
develop a true Windows client user interface for Windows or UNIX-
based COBOL application

5.4.3 RM/Enterprise CodeBench
RM/COBOL  developers  can  now  take  full  advantage  of   their
client/server development environments. This new version  of  our
powerful  graphical workbench enables the management of  existing
UNIX- or Windows-based RM/COBOL applications to be handled from a
remote Windows workstation.

5.4.4 RM/Panels
RM/Panels allows you to develop COBOL based applications  with  a
whole new event-driven look-and-feel with true GUI functionality,
while maintaining complete object portability.

5.4.5 Relational Data Bridge (formerly Relativity)
This  product allows you ODBC access to your COBOL data. You  can
update and insert records from ODBC.

5.5 Micro Focus
5.5.1 Micro Focus® Object COBOL v4.0 (32-bit) for OS/2
Micro  Focus  Object COBOL v4.0 is a powerful 32-bit  development
environment,  enabling development and deployment  of  COBOL  and
Object COBOL applications for OS/2.® Micro Focus has brought  the
power of COBOL to the PC with extensive syntax support, including
object  oriented  COBOL, IBM® OS/VS COBOL, DOS COBOL,  COBOL/370™
and  a wide range of other dialects. This release of Object COBOL
extends  the power of previous versions of Micro Focus  COBOL  by
adding   full   support  for  object  oriented  programming   and
exploiting the power of the 32-bit architecture.

5.5.2 Micro Focus® NetExpress V2.0 for Windows NT and Windows® 95
NetExpress  combines Micro Focus Object COBOL™ with a specialized
set  of  tools  to  allow  you to develop applications  for  PCs,
distributed environments and the internet. It includes a powerful
integrated   development  environment,  the  Micro  Focus   COBOL
compiler,  a  powerful  debugger, a complete  set  of  tools  for
developing    either   web-based   applications   or    graphical
applications  for  Win32 platforms, full  support  for  accessing
relational  databases, support for creating  ActiveX  objects  in
COBOL and many other features.
A  student  version  of NetExpress V2.0 is  also  available  that
provides  most  of  the  functionality of  the  full  version  of
NetExpress, but with limits on the size of applications that  can
be  developed  and it cannot be used to develop applications  for
sale.

5.5.3 Object COBOL ™ D e v e l o p e r Suite v4.1 for UNIX
Micro  Focus  Object COBOL Developer Suite v4.1 for  UNIX  is  an
advanced  integrated programming environment for  developing  and
deploying  client  /server  Object  COBOL  and  procedural  COBOL
applications on a wide range of UNIX ® operating environments. It
includes:  a flexible, cross-platform COBOL compiler;  a  set  of
powerful  programmer productivity tools; a set  of  Object  COBOL
class libraries; transparent support for large files; support for
DBCS  applications; user interface development tools; new on-line
documentation; the ability to execute COBOL CGI's developed using
NetExpress;  and  run-time  facilities  to  simplify  application
deployment.

5.5.4 Personal COBOL for Windows v3.1, with Object Orientation
Micro   Focus  Personal  COBOL  for  Windows  3.1,  with   Object
Orientation, is an educational version of Micro Focus  COBOL  for
anyone interested in learning procedural COBOL programming or the
new   object-oriented  COBOL  extensions   in   a   Windows   3.1
environment.
Personal  COBOL is ideal for educational institutions,  students,
training organizations and self-learners who need an inexpensive,
yet  full-featured and modern learning tool for  introductory  or
advanced COBOL.

5.6 PCYACC
PCYACC  7.5  is a complete language development environment  that
generates  C, C++, Java, Delphi, and VBS source code  from  input
Language Description Grammars for building Assemblers, Compilers,
Interpreters,  Browsers,  Page  Description  Languages,  Language
Translators,   Syntax  Directed  Editors,  Language   Validators,
Natural  Language  Processors, Expert System  Shells,  and  Query
Languages.  The PCYACC Tool-Kit includes PCLEX, Visual  Debugging
Tools, Object-Oriented Class Library's, and Pre-Written "Drop-In"
Language  engines for virtually every computer  language  in  the
world.
Note the original information stated that support was for the  77
and  90  Standards (which are good years for the Fortran Standard
but  not for COBOL). It is assumed that they actually support the
74 and 85 Standards of COBOL.
Contact them at:
http://www.abxsoft.com/

6. Where can I contact ...
6.1 Acucorp?

Acucorp Inc.
8515 Miralani Drive
San Diego, CA 92126
  Tel: [phone] (in U.S.)
  Systems Engineering: [phone]
  fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail] and [e-mail].
CompuServe: GO AcuCOBOL
WWW: http://www.Acucorp.com

6.1a Fujitsu

Fujitsu Software
Developer Tools Goup
3055 Orchard Drive
San Jose, CA. 95134-2005
  Phone:    [phone]
  FAX: [phone]
Email:    [e-mail]
Web: www.adtools.com

6.2 Liant?
6.2.1 In the US

Liant Software Corporation
959 Concord Street
Framingham, MA 01701
USA
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]

Note:  Liant  no  longer makes nor supports LPI  COBOL.  However,
support for other LPI products is still provided here.
www: http://lsc.liant.com/index.html

6.2.2 In the UK
Liant Software Ltd
2 Caxton Street
St. James Park
London SW1H 0QE
UK
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

6.2.3 In Japan
Nippon Liant Ltd
31-8, Takasecho
Funabashi City,
Chiba 273, Japan
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]

6.3 Micro Focus?
6.3.1 In the US

Micro Focus Inc.
701 E. Middlefield Road
Mountain View, CA 94043
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
WWW: http://www.microfocus.com
Check the Micro Focus web site for addresses and phone numbers of
offices in other countries.

6.3.2 In the UK
Micro Focus Ltd
The Lawn,
Old Bath Road,
Newbury,
Berks.
RG14 1QN
UK
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
WWW: http://www.mfltd.co.uk
Check the Micro Focus web site for addresses and phone numbers of
offices in other countries.

6.4 Computer Associates?
6.4.1 For product inquiries

Computer Associates
One Computer Associates Plaza
Islandia, NY 11788-7000
USA
  Tel: 1-800-CALL CAI (225-5224
email: [e-mail]
www: http://www.cai.com/

6.5 Ryan McFarland?
Ryan  McFarland has been acquired by Liant. However, I have  been
given  the  following  information  related  to  contacting  them
concerning RM-COBOL

6.5.1 In the US
(No address given - other than the one for Liant)
  Telephone (Contact): [phone]
  Telephone (Sales): 800-RM/COBOL
  Telephone (General Tech Support): 512-502-9074
  Fax: [phone]
  Fax (General Tech Support): 800-835-0501
e-mail (sales) : [e-mail]
e-mail: (support) [e-mail]

6.5.2 In the UK
Ryan McFarland
a Division of Liant Software Ltd
2 Caxton Street
St. James Park
London SW1H 0QE
UK
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
6.8 Sinc Inc.?
6.8.1 In the US
Sinc, Inc
Dayton, Ohio
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]
CompuServe: 75224,3207

6.8.2 in Europe
EasiRun Europa Gmbh
Usingen,
Germany
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

6.8.3 In South Africa
EasiRun International
Johannesburg,
South Africa
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

6.8.4 In Australia
EasiRun Australia
Sydney,
NSW
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: ()4 754 4359

[e-mail]

6.9 Flexus?

Flexus
PO Box 640,
Bangor,
PA 18013-0640
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
  BBS: 610 863 4740
E-mail: [e-mail], [e-mail]
www: http://www.flexus.com/

6.10 Siber Systems
Siber systems
2902 Rock Manor Court
Herndon, VA 20171
  Tel: [phone]
  fax: [phone]
Web Site: http://www.siber.com/sct/
e-mail: [e-mail]

7. What about COBOL standards?
7.1 What standards exist?
The  current  COBOL standard is the ISO/ANSI '85  standard.  This
replaced the ANSI '74 standard.
There  are  two amendments to the COBOL '85 standard -- intrinsic
functions and corrections.
The  ANSI  (J4) and ISO (WG4) groups are working on  created  the
next Standard. See below for its current status and contents.

7.2 Can I get the standards via FTP?
The standards do not appear to be available via FTP.
     Note:  See  the next section for information on obtaining  a
     copy of the draft of the next COBOL Standard.
This  is probably because they are very large and are copyrighted
by  ANSI  and/or ISO, although the issue of copyright is in  some
doubt.

Whether  or  not  the next COBOL Standard will  or  will  not  be
copyrighted  is  a  matter of discussion  and  argument.  As  the
current  Standard was put into the "public domain" and  the  next
standard is a "derived" work, it is questionable whether  or  not
the  next  Standard  will have an ISO or  ANSI  -  or  any  other
copyright.

7.3 What is happening with the draft of the next COBOL Standard
and what is in it?
NOTE: To see (or download) a copy of the latest draft of the next
COBOL Standard, see
http://www.microfocus.com/Standards/basedoc.htm
First  "9x"  has  become "0x". After the last public  review,  it
turns  out  that there will need to be at least one  more  public
review before it gets approved.
  1.   Major features/enhancements:
       A.   OO gets all the press
       B.   Common exception handling, C-ification (pointers, call
prototypes, typedefs, and everything else needed to use C-type
APIs), user-defined functions, file-sharing/record-locking, 31-
digit numbers, portable arithmetic, National character handling
(MOCS or DBCS but more so), are all some of the "biggies" that
some people are looking for.
      C.  In the category of "old technology" getting a new face lift
and being added to the Standard (as required) see Report Writer
enhancements, VALIDATE feature, and character screen I/O support
via ACCEPT/DISPLAY.
  2.   Little things (and there are too many for me to remember off
     the  top  of  my head) include everything from dynamic  file
     assignment (in the SELECT/ASSIGN statement), assigning multiple
     values via the VALUE statement in tables, sorting tables, hex
     literals, GOBACK verb, apostrophe as quote, bits and Boolean
     support,
          and LOTS more

8. COBOL 6.50
8.1 How do I compile my programs?
It  is  assumed you have installed cobol650.zip in the  directory
C:\COBOL650.  In  install.doc you will find some  information  on
running the compiler.
  1.   Add C:\COBOL650 to the PATH
2.   Run APPEND on C:\COBOL650 :
     APPEND C:\COBOL650
  3.    The  install.doc contained in cobol650.zip  refers  to  a
     program DPATH.COM to be run instead of APPEND. The DOS program
     APPEND seems to work too.
4.   Now you can compile your .cob files as explained in
install.doc.
When  trying  to compile sources in a directory other  than  that
where  the compiler is installed, the compiler terminates without
an  error.  This  restriction is not documented  in  install.doc,
which is probably a result of using APPEND instead of DPATH.
The  compiler accesses drive A:. You should have a disk  in  this
drive.
Peter Mikalajunas adds:
To avoid the need to use drive A:, you should do the following :
subst a: c:\cobol650
When you type A: you will drop into the C:\COBOL650 subdirectory.
The  compiler will behave normally at this point, not  constantly
searching drive A:.
When you are done with a session do the following :
C:
subst a: /D

8.2 How do I link my objects ?
There  is no linker with the COBOL 6.50 compiler. To link objects
you need to use the linker from MS-DOS v3.3 or earlier.
Ralf Laemmel adds :
You  can  use  newer  linkers, especially  from  newer  Microsoft
compiler products, too.
And Peter Mikalajunas has found that :
Tlink  compiled with obj files without complaint, but  the  exe's
were useless. What did work was Link version 5.31.009 which comes
with Visual Basic for DOS. It compiled all obj files I tried  and
the EXEs ran perfectly.
Clinton G. Downing also reports :
The  linker from IBM DOS v2.1 does now work, at least on the PS/2
70. The MS-DOS v3.3 linker works fine, however.
Steve ??? <[e-mail]> has reported some success with
a linker from the SimTel archives. Look for sl101a.zip.

9. What about OO COBOL?
9.1 ANSI and ISO Work
The  draft  of  the Committee Draft (CD !>!) of  the  next  COBOL
Standard   which  underwent  public  review  in   1997   included
significant  OO COBOL support. Based on the comments received  J4
(ANSI) and WG4 (ISO) or currently revising it (and deleting  some
features.

9.2 Micro Focus
Micro  Focus has an OO COBOL product. It does not conform exactly
to  the  OO COBOL proposal currently being discussed, however  --
the  syntax  is  a  subset of the current  proposal  with  a  few
variations.   Multiple  inheritance,  conformance   and   garbage
collection   are   not   implemented.  Also,   vocabularies   are
implemented  though these are not currently part of the  proposed
standard.

9.3 IBM
IBM offers OO COBOL products for MVS, OS/2, Windows, and AIX. (It
does   not   currently  offer  it  for  OS/400  or   VM).   There
implementation is a subset of s snap-shot of the Standard  as  it
was  in  1995. The syntax is portable across their platforms  and
interfaces with SOM and DSOM.

9.4 Others
I believe that other vendors are at various stages of developing,
testing, and distributing OO COBOL products. For specific product
information,  you  should contact the vendor  (such  as  Fujitsu,
Hitachi, Realia, etc)

10. Books about COBOL.
10.1 "Advanced ANSI COBOL with Structured Programming (2nd ed.)"
ISBN 0-471-54786-7
by Gary DeWard Brown, published by John Wiley & Sons.
Apparently  this  is one of the few books which  covers  ANSI  85
COBOL.
10.2 "Application Programming and File Processing in COBOL",
ISBN 0-669-16570-0
by Yuksel Uckan, published by D.C. Heath and Co., 1992
This is also available in two volumes :
10.3 "Application Programming in COBOL (Volume 1)"
ISBN 0-669-28207-3
"File Processing in COBOL (Volume 2)". ISBN 0-669-28208-1.
10.4 "COBOL 85 For Programmers"
ISBN 0-444-01232-X
by Don Nelson, published by North-Holland, price 10 USD.
It is available only from the author.
10.5 "COBOL For Dummies"
To  install the Fujitsu compiler that comes with this  book,  you
will need to enter a serial number that was accidentally left out
of  the  first  printing of the book. It will install  with  this
number:
 103-2001 1699-03317-70168
The first part of the number should already be in the window,  so
all you will have to enter is
99-03317-70168
Another reported problem with the Fujitsu compiler provided  with
this  book  is linking of programs. The following information  on
the  problem and solution was provided by Thane Hubbell on  March
20, 1998.
  "When Linking you will get a warning message that says:
  No Entry Point
  The program continues to link however. It will not run. Here
  are the steps to get it to Link properly, eliminate the
  error message and run.
  >From the WINCOB window - NOT the WORK FRAME window, just
  the plain WINCOB window, click
  OPTION
  Click
  ADD
  Scroll down to MAIN
  Click
  ADD
  Select the option for "Compile as Main Program"
  Click
  OK
  Now the program will compile and link as a main program and
  life will be just wonderful.
  PS: Thanks to Robert S. Robbins for these instructions, I do
  not know if he still monitors the group, but he deserves the
  credit."
10.6 "COBOL 85 For Programmers"
ISBN 0-471-92156-4
by Jim Inglis, published by John Wiley and Sons.
First edition in 1989, 287 pages.
Third reprint cost 17.50 UKP, May '91.
10.7 "COBOL: Der Einstieg
ISBN 3-8006-1673-4
By Andreas Tietz, published by Vahlen Verlag, München.
A German language book.
10.8 "COBOL from Micro to Mainframe"
ISBN 0-13-138686-7
by Robert Grauer, published by Prentice Hall.
This  includes a disk containing a student edition  of  CA-Realia
COBOL and interactive COBOL debugger.
US price (May '94) : $55
This  book  may have been released as several volumes  and  as  a
complete work. I'm not sure to which the ISBN applies. The ISBN 0-
13-140179-3  has  been suggested for Volume  I  by  William  Fang
<[e-mail]>.
10.9 "The COBOL Presentation Manager Programming Guide"
ISBN 0-442-01293-4
by David M. Dill, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold.
10.10 "Comprehensive Structured COBOL"
ISBN unknown
by L. Wayne Horns. Comes with an RM compiler.
10.11 "Comprehensive Structured COBOL (Third edition)",
ISBN 0-534-91781-X
by  Gary  S. Popkin, published by PWS-KENT (Division of Wadsworth
Inc).
Covers ANSI-74 and ANSI-85 COBOL in detail. Highly recommended by
[e-mail].
10.12 "Modern COBOL Programming"
ISBN 0-394-39100-4
by Price/Olson published by McGraw Hill
Comes with RM/COBOL-85
US price (June '94): ~$55
10.13 "Object Orientation: An Introduction for COBOL programmers"
ISBN unknown
by Raymond Obin published by Micro Focus Press.
10.14 "OS/2 Presentation Manager Programming for COBOL
Programmers"
ISBN unknown
by Robert B. Chapman, published by John Wiley & Sons.
10.15 "The Revolutionary guide to COBOL with compiler"
ISBN 1-874416-17-6
by Yevsei Handel and Boris Degtyar.
Published by Wrox Press Ltd, 1334 Warwick Rd, Birmingham, UK.
The following information was provided (on March 2, 1998) by John
Amos concerning the compiler that comes with the book: (
     "Requirements:
          CPU: Intel 286 or newer
     Tutorial  minimum requirements: 400KB RAM free, EGA adapter,
     1.5 MB disk storage, DOS 3.0

     Constraints relative to the ANSI-85 COBOL standard:

          Does  not  support  implementor  names  and  associated
          switches  in  the  SPECIAL  NAMES  paragraph   of   the
          Environment  Division. RECORD DELIMITER phrase  is  not
          supported.  No  support for CLOSE with REEL,  UNIT,  or
          LOCK options. Supports static program linkage only."
The  COBOL  compiler  that comes with this book  was  written  by
Dmitry Bronnikov.
10.17 "Comprehensive COBOL
ISBN 0-07-909613-1 (5.25 inch disks)
by Bradley ISBN 0-07-836549-X (3.5 inch disks)
Includes   a  Liant  RM/COBOL-85  DOS  compiler  and  development
environment
US price ( April '94): $60.50
10.18 "Structured COBOL, 3rd Edition"
ISBN 0-07-835423-4 (5.25 inch disks)
ISBN 0-07-836489-2 (3.5 inch disks)
by Welburn/Price
Includes   a  Liant  RM/COBOL-85  DOS  compiler  and  development
environment
US price (April '94): $67.38
The above two books may be ordered from Mitchell/McGraw Hill,
Tel: [phone] (US only) or [phone]
Juergen Linkens <[e-mail]> adds :
The compiler is limited as following:
  ·    max. 800 lines of code
  ·    max. 4 files
  ·    max. 1000 records per file
  ·    max. 100 bytes per file record
BTW,  the editor coming with it isn't very good either.  This  is
not  meant  to be a complaint, just a hint for future  issues.  I
never expected a fully unlimited compiler for a book price,  just
a few less limitations.
10.19 "Structured ANSI COBOL Part 1 : A Course for novices using
a subset of 1974 or 1985 ANSI COBOL"
ISBN unknown
by Mike Murach and Associates Inc. (1987)
10.20 "Structured ANSI COBOL Part 2 : An advanced course using
1974 or 1985 ANSI COBOL"
ISBN unknown
by Mike Murach and Associates Inc. (1987)
10.21 "Structured COBOL with Business Applications"
ISBN unknown
by Stanley E. Myers published by Prentice Hall.
10.22 "Teach Yourself COBOL in 21 Days
ISBN 0-672-30469-4 by Mo Budlong,
published by SAMS Publishing/MacMillan Computer Publishing
10.23 "Structured COBOL Programming (7th Edition)"
ISBN 0-471-30580-4
by Stern & Stern, published by John Wiley & Sons.
Comes  with a syntax guide and an order form for a special  offer
cut-down RM/COBOL 85 or Micro Focus Personal COBOL (unmodified).

11. Is there a COBOL to C converter ?
Asking  this  question anywhere appears to generate much  general
flaming  and  general  language  wars  and  very  little   useful
information.

No  such beast is listed in the free compilers FAQ, but an ad has
appears  in  the US publication "Programmer's Shop  Catalog"  for
COBOL to C (and PL/I to C) translators. Contact :
Micro-Processor Services,
92 Stone Hurst Lane,
Dix Hills, NY 11746
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: (516)- 499-4727
E-Mail: [e-mail], [e-mail]
www: http://www.mpsinc.com
http://www.netusa.net/~mpsinc
A toolset for conversion from COBOL to several other languages is
available.  A  tool  first produces structured  diagrams  (Nassi-
Shneiderman)  from existing source files. Structural  errors  are
identified  and you can edit to correct them. Another tool  takes
those  same  diagrams and produces source code in one of  several
languages  (COBOL,  C,  Ada,  Basic, Clipper,  dBaseIV,  Fortran,
Modula 2, Natural, PL/1, etc.)
The  toolset  is called XperCase by Siemens, and is available  in
the US from:
Boston Technical Distribution Corp.
3 Center Plaza, Suite 440
Boston, MA 02108
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
Laurent Sabarthez contributed :
  "Some years ago I was Project Leader on a software project
  termed COBTOC (COBol TO C translation). The company is by
  now out of business, but the rights on this product were
  purchased by NSI (Network Solutions Inc., Herndon, VA, USA -
  Emitt McHenry was Chairman).
  COBTOC is actually a translator generator. It can produce a
  specialized translator for any reasonable COBOL dialect,
  given a dialect description very close to the usual syntax
  notation one can find into any COBOL Reference Manual.
  "semantics" peculiarities are also described in this way.
  Once a translator has been produced in this way, a source
  management module allows automated translation of the COBOL
  source modules. A run-time library is also automatically
  produced as a by-product of the translator.
  The COBTOC user gets a set of C files, each being the
  translation of a corresponding COBOL file. You can get K&R
  C, ANSI C, or common variants like Turbo C. The overall
  structure of the COBOL program is preserved upon
  translation. Identifiers are straightforward transformations
  of COBOL names. Paragraph structure and flow control are
  also preserved, like all name space properties attached to
  I/O and file management.
  The C files are compiled and linked with the run-time
  library, which supports data handling, edition, arithmetic,
  direct I/O, file I/O and transaction management (e.g. CICS).
  Executables are intended to run on any platform supporting
  POSIX C compiling and standard library linkage.
  COBTOC was left by my co-workers and me in an alpha release
  state, mid 1993.
  I don't know the end of the story, but NSI should provide
  more up-to-date information about it.
  There is also a project running to create a COBOL to C
  converter (possibly COBOL to C++ ?) available under the GNU
  license. "
  Another project that can be viewed as either a COBOL to C
  converter or as a compiler, is the "CobCy Project"
For    more    details,    see    the    CobCy    homepage     at
http://www.netsis.it/~asantini/cobcy/.

12. COBOL code generators
12.1 CA-Telon and CA-Telon PWS (Programmable Workstation
CA-Telon and CA-Telon PWS (Programmable Workstation) are complete
solutions for designing, generating and maintaining your mission-
critical  COBOL and PL/1 applications. High-level, non-procedural
design  and prototyping, combined with automatic code generation,
result  in  higher  productivity, consistent standards  and  good
programming  practices. With CA-Telon PWS, you can  offload  your
application  development projects from the mainframe and  provide
your   programmers   with  a  complete  application   development
environment on the workstation.
The CA-Telon Design Facility (TDF) provides a "fill-in-the-blank"
approach  for  designing online and batch programs. An  automated
prototyping facility assists in the analysis/design phases of the
life  cycle. CA-Telon generates structured portable  code  for  a
multitude  of target environments and DBMSs. Available for:  MVS,
DOS, OS/2

12.3 ETK
ETK (Easy ToolKit) was developed by SEMA Group in Belgium. It  is
now marketed by TOSC International, Inc :
TOSC International, Inc.
3900 Essex Lane, suite 250
Houston, TX 77027
  Tel: [phone]
  Fax: [phone]
Contact Ted Langlie. TOSC will also soon be on the Internet.
ETK   works   with  a  repository  where  the  programmer/analyst
describes  the  system to be generated in terms of data  domains,
elements,  tables,  relationships,  business  rules,   and   data
mappings.  From  this description ETK generates  complete  COBOL-
based applications that will run on many platforms.

13. COBOL Tools
This  section  documents  some  of  the  add-on  tools  that  are
available  for use with COBOL compilers. Further submissions  are
welcomed,  but  please try to keep them as  free  from  marketing
"hype" as possible.
Note: This section seems to be entirely devoted to tools that run
in  or  are  targeted  at  the PC and/or  Unix  world.  Mainframe
additions are welcome, but will probably be a while before I  can
add them.

13.1 creating GUI's
13.1.1 VanGui for RM/COBOL.
VanGui  consists  of two major components: a design  tool  and  a
runtime  system.  The design tool is a Windows application  which
provides  COBOL developers with the capability to define windows,
populate  those windows with standard Windows and  VBX  controls,
adjust  the properties of those controls and attach COBOL  event-
handling logic to their events.
The  VanGui  Runtime  is  a  Windows .DLL  that  manages  Windows
messages, provides runtime support for the controls, and provides
a COBOL interface to the Windows API.
For more information on VanGui, see 13.1.1 VanGui for RM/COBOL
http://www.liant.com/products/language/rm/ib.html.
For another GUI tool from Liant, see 5.3.4 RM/Panels

13.1.2 From Acucorp
AcuBench

AcuBench  is an integrated development environment for ACUCOBOL.-
GT. Available for the Windows 95 and
Windows    NT   operating   systems,   AcuBench   combines    the
internationally acclaimed ACUCOBOL-GT
(Graphical Technology) compiler and runtime system with a set  of
graphically-based,  GT-optimized  WYSIWYG  screen  Painter,   and
language sensitive source Code Editor.

ACUCOBOL®-GT

ACUCOBOL®-GT enables COBOL programmers to implement  and  deliver
full-featured GUI COBOL
applications on any of over 600 platforms, with full object  code
portability using a single set of COBOL
source   code.  Programmers  can  create  graphical  applications
including floating windows, graphical
controls  (such  as  entry fields, frames,  radio  buttons,  push
buttons, and labels), menu bars, bitmaps, and toolbars
using COBOL extensions that are consistent with traditional COBOL
syntax.

13.1.3 Flexus COBOL spII
COBOL spII allows the COBOL programmer to create GUI or character
mode  screens  using ANSI standard COBOL CALL  USING  statements.
COBOL  spII screen definitions and source programs are 100% COBOL
compiler independent, 100% operating system independent and  100%
text mode to GUI mode independent.
Automatic   screen   conversion  tools   for   many   proprietary
environments  are also available from Flexus. These automate  the
task  of converting screen definitions from proprietary character
mode screens to GUI screen definitions.

13.1.4 CA-Visual Realia
[From CA's Web site:]
CA-Visual  Realia  is a complete Windows development  environment
that  provides COBOL programmers with an easy-to-use set of tools
for creating mission-critical GUI client/server applications. CA-
Visual  Realia  allows you to create Windows  applications  using
COBOL  for  the  business  logic  and  GUI  tools  for  the  user
interface.  CA-Visual Realia combines tools designed for  Windows
user   interface   development  with   powerful   COBOL   program
development tools. Creating a program's user interface can be  as
easy  as  dragging  controls onto forms, and then  modifying  the
control's properties.

13.1.5 Fujitsu PowerCOBOL
PowerCOBOL   is  a  visual,  object  oriented,  enterprise   wide
client/server Rapid Application Development(RAD) tool  for  COBOL
programmers.   The  PowerCOBOL  development  environment   allows
programmers to use COBOL as the GUI scripting language  to  build
scaleable  and maintainable state-of-the-art COBOL-based  Windows
two-tier  and  three-tier client/server and Internet applications
with data access to local and remote databases.

13.2 Sinc Inc. products
13.2.1 FlexGen 4GL Rapid Application Development Environment
A  repository-based, data dictionary-driven  tool  set  and  code
generator. It supports and generates code for RM/COBOL,  Acucorp,
Micro Focus COBOL, Realia (DOS Only), mbp (DOS Only) and runs and
deploys under DOS, Windows, Windows 95, NT, many flavors of UNIX,
VAX/VMS and Open VMS.

13.2.2 Legacy Liberator COBOL Migration Toolset
For   rehosting  proprietary  COBOLs,  converting  them  to  open
systems,  Acucorp, RM/COBOL or MF COBOL. User interfaces  can  be
converted  to  FlexGen user interfaces including the  ability  to
upgrade them to GUI.

13.2.3 Easy Query
A point-and-shoot report writer and query tool.

13.2.4 ODBC Access Tools
Allows Windows ODBC-enabled applications to access COBOL data.

13.3 Siber Systems
13.3.1 CobolTransformer
CobolTransformer  (SCT) is a next generation Cobol  reengineering
and  parsing toolkit (SDK). By using CobolTransformer components,
developers  are  able  to develop Cobol-transforming  (or  Cobol-
analyzing) product or project faster and the resulting tools  are
of much higher quality.

CobolTransformer is a library with API in C++ that includes:
  ·    High quality Cobol Parser that parses 12 most popular Cobol
     dialects and that has tremendous error recovery capability.
  ·     C++ library that client uses to browse and transform  the
     tree-based Internal Representation of Cobol programs. Definition-
     Use links attached to the Program Tree effectively make it a
     general case Graph.
  ·     PrettyPrinter that transforms our Internal Representation
     back into beautifully indented
     human-readable Cobol program.

13.3.2 Cbl-Beau
CobolBeautifier does the following things:
  a.   Beautifully indents your Cobol program.
b.   Renumbers paragraph-names, section-names, data-names
c.   attach an increasing or decreasing prefix or suffix to all
paragraph-names and/or section-names and/or data-names in your
Cobol program. (Based on CobolTransformer.)
A   free   version  is  available  from  their   Web   site   at:
http://www.siber.com/sct/
The   Commercial   version  will  allow  to  specify   your   own
indentation/pretty-printing rules, Program  you  style  rules  in
CobolTransformer and make all programs to comply automatically.
To be available soon.

13.3.3 Mf2Fsc
Mf2Fsc is a Micro Focus COBOL to Fujitsu COBOL converter.
It   converts  Micro  Focus  Cobol-85  to  Fujitsu  Cobol-85  and
beautifies the program at the same time.
A   free   prototype  is  available  from  their  web  site   at:
http://www.siber.com/sct/
A commercial version will be available soon.

!3.4 What about Year 2000 Tools?

13.4.1 CA-Fix/2000™
CA-Fix/2000,   a   mainframe-based  application-at-a-time   COBOL
remediation  tool,  performs rapid automated  date  analysis  and
correction of your COBOL source code to provide the fastest  path
to  Year  2000  compliance. CA-Fix/2000 eliminates  the  tedious,
error-prone  tasks of finding and correcting the date  fields  in
your programs. Because it can correct an entire application in  a
single step, CA-Fix/2000 helps ensure consistent corrections even
when  date  fields  are  passed from one program  to  another  or
records  are  redefined.  CA-Fix/2000 can  determine  which  date
fields  are  at  risk  for failing to handle the  century  change
correctly  and corrects only these at-risk fields,  limiting  the
impact on programs and reducing testing requirements.

13.5 Misc. tools

13.5.1 Flexus WinPrint
COBOL  WinPrint allows the COBOL programmer to make ANSI standard
COBOL CALL USING statements to completely control and communicate
with   the   Windows  Print  Manager.  Forms  may   be   designed
interactively  with the Forms Editor to include bitmaps,  special
fonts,  colors and many other modern features. These reports  may
be viewed on the screen prior to printing or sent directly to the
Print Manager.

14. Other sources of information.
14.1 CompuServe
CA has a Forum. To get to this, use
     GO CAIDEV
Liant has a Forum too, to support the RM/COBOL and Relativity(TM)
family of products. To access it, use
     GO LIANT
14.2 Bix
There is a COBOL forum on Bix. Don Nelson is the moderator.

14.3 Micro Focus Faxback
In  Palo  Alto,  Micro Focus runs a system for obtaining  certain
technical information by fax. You need a tone-dial 'phone to  use
it.
  The number is [phone].

14.4 Micro Focus WWW server
Micro Focus has a WWW server covering many COBOL issues. The
URL is http://www.microfocus.com/

14.5 CA WWW server
CA also has a WWW server. It's URL is http://www.cai.com/
14.6 Liant and Ryan McFarland WWW server
Liant has a WWW server at http://lsc.liant.com/. This server also
hosts the RM WWW site at http://lsc.liant.com/rm/.

14.7 The Acucorp WWW server
This is at http://www.Acucorp.com/.

14.8 The COBOL Foundation
Dave  McFarland,  formerly  of  Ryan  McFarland,  has  begun   an
organization  aimed at promoting COBOL and providing  information
to  and about the COBOL community. Members (including RM, MF, and
IBM)  pay  yearly  dues  and  in  return  are  included  in   the
Foundation's promotion efforts, literature, directories, etc. and
have  their  company  and  product  information  posted  on   the
Foundation's web server. The URL for the server is
http://www.cobol.org/

14.9 The IBM COBOL products WWW server
IBM  has  enhanced  the  COBOL you currently  use  with  powerful
features  to  increase  development  productivity,  simplify  the
maintenance of your legacy code, and provide seamless portability
from your host to your workstation. Whether you're maintaining or
reengineering   legacy  code  or  creating  new   object-oriented
client/server  applications, IBM's COBOL family  offers  you  the
year  2000 ready application development environment designed  to
do the job right.

IBM  COBOL  provides  a  complete offering of  compatible,  cross
platform,  cross product compilers which support OS/2®,  OS/390™,
MVS™,  VM,  VSE/ESA™, AS/400®, AIX®, and Windows®. IBM gives  you
the tools you need to tackle your COBOL year 2000 challenge while
leveraging  your existing applications. IBM COBOL  also  provides
the  tools you need to amplify your program development, enabling
you  to  position your enterprise to take advantage of tomorrow's
technologies.
See http://www.software.ibm.com/ad/cobol/

14.10 The Flexus WWW server
Contains all sorts of information, including a copy of the  COBOL
650 compiler. It's at http://www.flexus.com/

14.11 COBOL User Groups
There are a large number of Micro Focus User Groups. Rather  than
reproduce  the list here and have it constantly out of  date,  it
can be found at
http://pita.microfocus.com/UserGroup_PC/
The  list  and the web pages are maintained by Debbie  Vincent  <
[e-mail]>.

15. Information required for the FAQ.
Corrections  and  additions  to  existing  material  are   always
welcome. I'd like to add a section of reviews of different  COBOL
books. If I am sent any reviews I will collate them and add these
to the FAQ. More information on mainframe COBOL products would be
useful.
A section covering COBOL programming could be worthwhile.
Note:  I still have a "folder full" of comments sent to the  last
owner of this FAQ that have yet to be applied. It is my intent to
get them verified and applied as soon as possible.

16. Contributors to the FAQ.
Many  people  have  contributed  to  this  FAQ  in  each  of  its
iterations. In the past an ongoing list of these people have been
included  within  the  FAQ.  At this time,  i  am  stopping  this
practice, although I ,in no way, want to deprecate all  the  work
and  input  that these people have provided. I have continued  to
identify people whom I am quoting (directly or indirectly) and do
still  hope  that everyone who has input for this  document  will
continue to provide it.

17. What about the Y2K (Millenium) Issue?
  ·    Yes, the year 2000 IS a leap year
  ·     Yes, the millenium really starts on January 1, 2001 - but
     the software "bug" refers to January 1, 2000 (and several other
     dates)

17.1 Where can I get information about the Y2K problem?
The  Year 2000 Information Center home page on the World Wide Web
is at
     http://www.year2000.com.
The Information Center has a countdown clock, articles on various
aspects  of the problem, vendor information, this FAQ, and  links
to related information.
There is an Internet mailing list operated by Peter de Jager  for
discussions  of year 2000 computer problems. The  list  has  over
1200  members,  and  gets an average of  about  25  messages  per
business day. This is a moderated mailing list managed by a  paid
administrator and fully supported by its members on a "shareware"
basis.  Each member is asked to pay a subscription fee of US  $50
yearly. (You may contribute more if you wish.)
New subscribers get a 30-day free trial.
To  subscribe, select the "Year 2000 Announcement List" link from
the    Year    2000    Information   Center    home    page    at
http://www.year2000.com. On the subscription form, select the Yes
adio  button  for the Discussion List. You can also subscribe  by
sending e-mail to [e-mail] with
     SUBSCRIBE
in  the  subject line of the message. Subscriptions are processed
manually,  so  please  be  patient. The list  can  optionally  be
received  in digest form instead of individual messages. Invoices
and  receipts are available if needed. Details will be sent  when
you subscribe.
The  Year  2000 Forum on CompuServe has discussions of  all  year
2000 issues, and a collection of files, including this FAQ. There
are over 1000 members. To reach the forum, GO YEAR2000.
The  Usenet  newsgroup comp.software.year-2000  is  dedicated  to
discussions of year 2000 computer issues.
The  current  version  of this Year 2000 FAQ  is  available  from
several web sites, an FTP site, and on CompuServe. It is in ASCII
text form at all these sites.
On the Year 2000 Information Center home page at
http://www.year2000.com,
select  the  "Year 2000 Archive" link. The FAQ is the  last  item
listed on the Archive page

18. What can/should I post in the COBOL newsgroups?
Both comp.lang.cobol and alt.cobol are UN-moderated newsgroups.
This means that there is no controlling authority regulating  the
content  of the posts in those groups. Anyone is able  (but  most
assuredly  not welcome) to post anything, relevant  to  COBOL  or
not.   Off-topic  posts  (and  particularly  prolonged  off-topic
threads)are  discouraged, but it is impossible to  prevent  them.
Different  readers of these newsgroups have different  thresholds
for  tolerating off-topic comments. The more that you  post,  the
more  likely  it  is  that  some  readers  will  simply  apply  a
"killfile"  to all of your posts - often after sending  you  (and
possibly the newsgroup) rather pointed comments on your use/abuse
of the newsgroup.
You  should, therefore, apply the following guidelines that  will
help  you  get the most out of both your viewing and postings  at
these sites.
  ·     Comp.lang.cobol is the preferred site to use - especially
     for technical issues related to COBOL.
  ·    Although threads do stray from the topics, the more targeted
     your inquiry is - and the more closely it relates to COBOL, the
     more likely you are to receive a useful and prompt response. (If
     you  know that you are leaving the current subject, consider
     changing the subject line in your post.)
  ·     When asking about a specific structure, error message, or
     situation, it is always best to specify both the compiler that
     you are using and the operating system where you are working.
     (What you may think is a general COBOL question may actually be
     very specific to your current environment.)

Note:  For  those  who  are interested,  the  "charter"  for  the
comp.lang.cobol newsgroup can be found at:
ftp//ftp.uu.net/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/comp/
comp.lang.cobol

18.1 Can I get help with homework via the newsgroups?
Yes,  you  can get help with your homework via these  newsgroups.
HOWEVER, that does mean that you will receive help - you will NOT
find many participants who will be very happy if you ask them  to
do  your  homework FOR YOU. Some hints that you  should  consider
when drafting your post for assistance with homework include:
  ·     Make it clear from the beginning that you are asking  for
     homework help. (Most of the newsgroup participants are very good
     at sniffing out those who try and pose homework questions as
     "business need" questions - and they are not very polite  in
     replying to such questions).
  ·     Make certain that you specify what compiler and operating
     system  your  homework is targeted at.  Solutions  may  vary
     significantly based on this. (You might also want to include what
     text book you are using.)
  ·     The  more information that you can give that demonstrates
     that you really have tried to solve the problem yourself (using
     your text book, class material/presentations, lab assistance,
     etc), the more likely it is that you will get useful and friendly
     responses. If you let us know what you have found on your own and
     why you are still uncertain or confused, you will usually get
     helpful responses; if it looks like you are asking us questions
     without trying to solve it yourself, you are likely to get very
     pointed replies.

NOTE:  if you are looking for a COBOL tutor, (and don't  want  to
see  the  "Do  your own homework" notes that occur in  the  COBOL
newsgroups), you might want to try,
     http://www.tutoraid.org/

18.2 Can I post job openings in the newsgroups and if so what
should I include?
These newsgroups are an excellent place for posting job openings.
Some  participants (those with jobs) often wish that less of  the
bandwidth  was  spent on job postings, but,  for  those  who  are
looking for positions/contracts, these postings are quite useful.
There  are, however, some guidelines that you should follow  when
posting  positions  - unless you like getting  abusive  and  non-
responsive replies to your postings.
  ·     Always, ALWAYS, include rates, a range of rates, or  your
     best information on what rates are available. Phrases like "based
     on experience" and "competitive" are bound to receive replies
     questioning your motives. The assumption is that ALL such posts
     are "trolling" for resumes or rates and not serious job searches.
  ·     Try  to give the best summary of job location and desired
     expertise in the subject line of your posting. This will assist
     you  in  attracting  readers that are  actually  potentially
     interested in your openings.
  ·     The  newsgroups  are international  in  nature,  but  are
     dominated by Americans. If you are posting a position outside the
     US,  please make it clear whether foreigners are or are  not
     welcome to apply - and if so what visas and other paperwork is
     required If you are posting for a job with specific citizenship
     requirements, please make that clear from the start.
  ·     In general, the more information that you provide in your
     postings, the better the match will be from those who reply. If,
     however, you are "attaching" a job description, please  make
     certain that you make it clear what type of document-reader is
     required to process it AND make certain that you have  virus
     scanned the document before you post it.

NOTE:  For  those looking for jobs, you might want to  check  out
Dice at
     http://www.dice.com

Appendix A. Changes in recent revisions
This  appendix  documents the major changes  that  were  made  to
create the various (recent) versions of this document.
Appendix A.1 - Changes to create Version 2.0
Huge  numbers of changes! Version numbering jumped from 1.xxx  to
2.0 to reflect this.
FAQ availability details.
Added section on Commercial COBOL Products.
Removed 'what happened to Realia?' section.
Removed references to Wang, as I can find no information  on  any
Wang COBOL Products.
Checked all URLs, and updated/added as appropriate.
Removed reference to IBM 'COBOL Products WWW site'.
Added  entries  in  'GUI Tools' section for  Micro  Focus  Dialog
System and Net Express, Flexus COBOL spII, and CA-Visual Realia.
Removed  ADS/Online from 'Code Generators' section as  it's  not,
apparently.  Also noted that Cullinet have been acquired  by  CA,
who now sell the Telon product.

Appendix A.2 - Changes to create Version 2.05
  ·    Significant reformatting
  ·    Updated OO COBOL Section
  ·    Add URL for IBM COBOL Web site
  ·    Added information on "COBOL for Dummies"
  ·    Added initial Y2K section
  ·    Added information on using the newsgroups
  ·    Added information on PCYACC

Appendix A.3 - Changes to create Version 2.08
  ·    Started adding Logos
  ·    Removed the detailed list of FAQ contributors
  ·    Fixed erroneous Standards information
  ·    Corrected information about Liant (who acquired RM)
  ·    Added information on Amiga freeware compiler
  ·    Added information on Siber tools
  ·    Corrected CA company and product information
  ·     Added information on where to turn for information not in
     the FAQ
  ·    Rephrased the information on what can/should be put in the
     newsgroups.
  ·    Revised the information on the CobCy project/product
  ·    Updated Micro Focus information
  ·    Added URL for "Dice" for those looking for COBOL jobs.
  ·    Added information on getting a "COBOL Tutor"

Appendix A.4 - Changes to create Version 2.0x
  ·    Added and corrected information on Fujitsu
  ·    Re-instated the information on obtaining a copy of the draft
     COBOL Standard.