#Ibm Cobol 6 Compiler Options Generator And This

Enable millennium language extensions for 4 dig yrThis suboption is not supported in Enterprise COBOL V5 and V6. SSRANGE COBOL compile option in COBOL 6.1. I am a bit puzzled by what I am seeing when I utilize this compile option because it seems to indicate there is a problem there is not.

Ibm Cobol 6 Compiler Options Generator And This

Optimal code generation provides both MIPS and MSU savings. So what is causing companies of all sizes to consider migrating off version 4 and onto IBMвЂ™s latest Enterprise COBOL compiler, version 6.3?Enterprise COBOL version 6.3 introduces a new code generator and this provides an opportunity for you to produce more optimal code to complement your mainframe hardware investment. COBOL continues to serve several industries quite well and COBOL is responsible for the efficient, reliable, secure and unseen day-to-day operations of the worldвЂ™s economy. Back then, highlights included XML document parsing validation, compiler message severity customization, the ability for COBOL user defined words to include an underscore and support for Java 5 and Java 6. One client had to identify, by hand, well over 600 programs that required changes due to COBOL Call Interface changes introduced in version 6.3.Why should you upgrade to Version 6.3 IBM Hardware Server DesignвЂ™s tight integration with IBM Compiler DevelopmentIBMвЂ™s Enterprise COBOL for z/OS version 4 release 2 was first announced on August 25, 2009.

As stated earlier, if you are not specifying ARCH(n) as a compiler option, it will default to (7) for z/OS 2.1 clients or (8) for z/OS 2.2 and above clients. The fruits of their labor are exposed via the ARCH setting you specify when you compile your COBOL source programs. This server has long since been withdrawn from the mainframe marketplace.If you are curious about what that server looks like, consider the image that follows.Figure 2 IBM z15 server, current server platformIBM Server Design and IBM Compiler Development work closely together.

That reason centers on Risk Avoidance as clients cannot afford to be on an unsupported compiler. Modernization enables the reuse of your proven business logic and allows you to deliver code enhancements, quicker add modern GUIs to business critical COBOL applications or extend them to work with web, cloud or mobile infrastructures.Migrating to COBOL version 6.3 allows you to build on your proven applications versus rewriting from scratch.As impressive as optimized code generation and associated MSU savings are, there is another reason why clients will migrate to Enterprise COBOL version 6.3. This same COBOL version allows you to modernize your existing business critical applications.

LetвЂ™s take a look: Where do you start?The impact of the Enterprise COBOL v6.3 compiler on your applications can be seen in two areas: The decisions leading up to the program changes and testing are indeed far more critical to the success of your effort than anything else you can do to migrate to Enterprise COBOL v6.3.There could be many, but most of them will not be new to you, some will be trivial if youвЂ™ve got reasonable control over your production source code, and some will fit right in with your current maintenance and enhancement activities. Migrating from OS/VS COBOL to VS COBOL II clearly was a difficult migration.Migration from Enterprise COBOL version 4.2 to version 6.3 is possible and not as difficult as that first migration decades ago. This is a big deal from a migration standpoint and the last time IBM introduced a new Back-end compiler was when VS COBOL II was introduced (circa 1985). The Back-end component introduces a new optimizer that changes the way machine code is generated and the like. Front-End components center on parsing and syntax checking not a big deal from a migration standpoint.

Define a bounded pilot project to address run-time issues and build a migration project model for the remainder of the application suite, Determine the scope and assess all in-scope programs for compile-time issues, Possible program changes that can only be determined at run time because they relate to data content that is handled differently in v6.3.It is important to keep these two areas in mind when evaluating and planning for your migration project.It helps to think about an Enterprise COBOL v6.3 migration as having three parts:

It will depend on your organizationвЂ™s goals. Conversely if the requirement is to ensure that no mission-critical applications are running on an unsupported compiler, then determining which apps are mission-critical and which of them must be migrated, is a more straightforward task.There is no вЂњ one size fits allвЂќ answer to defining the scope of the effort. Improving MSUs, decreasing batch run-time, streamlining your licensed software to eliminate redundant components, complying with regulatory requirements mandating that critical applications cannot operate on unsupported platforms or software вЂ“ these are just a few of the issues your organization may be facing.If optimizing MSUs is most important, then assessing the impact of a COBOL v6.3 migration would be focused on hot-spot programs, frequently run job streams, problematic batch window limitations and the suspects that run within them.

It is even possible to automate some of the code corrections.The extent of any automation efforts should be based on the number of programs in scope. That analysis can include extraction of relevant data such as error messages into files or spreadsheets that can be sorted, queried and counted. If your COBOL portfolio is large, even if your focus is limited to mission-critical applications, this could still involve hundreds or thousands of programs.Processes can be built that will automatically submit compile jobs, with the outputs saved to datasets for further analysis. And it should be answered with automation. Compiling the in-scope programs to determine v6.3 compliance impact is next.How do you effectively compile thousands of programs?Or perhaps, should you compile your entire COBOL portfolio? If your impact assessment needs to be done across the board, then this challenge could be real. Their IBM Automatic Binary Optimizer for z/OS (ABO) offering allows the binaries from older compilers to be optimized to the fullest extent possible, so that performance gains can be realized even if the source code cannot be migrated.Assessing your portfolio from this perspective is step 1.

This may also be an alternative, although the authors have no direct experience with this service or its relative cost.The COBOL v6.3 compiler provides many options that flag potential migration issues. In todayвЂ™s world of everything-as-a-service, organization now exist that offer mainframe COBOL compilation in the cloud on a pay as you go basis.