by Brenda J. Christie
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| 3270 Terminal Emulator |
In an earlier post, I wrote about IDEs for web development. Today's discussion extends to COBOL. The environment in which COBOL programs are developed today has changed a lot from the monochromatic days of Wylbur, Roscoe and TSO. No longer are programmers necessarily writing their programs on paper and then typing them into a 3270 terminal emulator using Wylbur, Roscoe and TSO. All three tools, or editors, are still in use, but the menu of what is available has improved and advanced.
Today there are Interactive Development Environments, or IDEs available to mainframe programmers similar to the tools available to web and mobile developers. IDEs are similar to the familiar GUI interfaces complete with scroll bars, buttons, check boxes and the like. And, they tend to be colorful. They are often also more powerful, often allowing in-line syntax checks, COBOL syntax auto completion similar to that found on a smartphone email agent. And for those more comfortable on a 3270 terminal emulator, there are COBOL IDEs which provide a 3270 emulator-like environment.
Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, some of the IDEs mentioned below allow seemless integration with the mainframe for transferring code between the two environments and in doing so increase deployment time. This can be an advantage over FTP and SSH as target libraries and folders are usually predefined. The end result is often a shortened development cycle leading to faster deployment to production.
That some of the COBOL IDEs have program templates can also be attractive to lesser experienced application developers who are not well versed in the COBOL programming language. Zeus is one of those IDE which comes with a code template. It isn't altogether certain whether this is the best way to learn COBOL, as opposed to reading a COBOL manual as any undetected errors in the templates would simply be replicated in subsequent COBOL programs.
Depending on the IDE, deployment can be back to the mainframe as well as the Cloud and other platforms. Some IDEs also support development in languages in addition to COBOL such as C/C++, Java Script, Python. Some products, such as Micro Focus COBOL also offer integration with web development languages such as PHP.
Today there are Interactive Development Environments, or IDEs available to mainframe programmers similar to the tools available to web and mobile developers. IDEs are similar to the familiar GUI interfaces complete with scroll bars, buttons, check boxes and the like. And, they tend to be colorful. They are often also more powerful, often allowing in-line syntax checks, COBOL syntax auto completion similar to that found on a smartphone email agent. And for those more comfortable on a 3270 terminal emulator, there are COBOL IDEs which provide a 3270 emulator-like environment.
Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, some of the IDEs mentioned below allow seemless integration with the mainframe for transferring code between the two environments and in doing so increase deployment time. This can be an advantage over FTP and SSH as target libraries and folders are usually predefined. The end result is often a shortened development cycle leading to faster deployment to production.
That some of the COBOL IDEs have program templates can also be attractive to lesser experienced application developers who are not well versed in the COBOL programming language. Zeus is one of those IDE which comes with a code template. It isn't altogether certain whether this is the best way to learn COBOL, as opposed to reading a COBOL manual as any undetected errors in the templates would simply be replicated in subsequent COBOL programs.
Depending on the IDE, deployment can be back to the mainframe as well as the Cloud and other platforms. Some IDEs also support development in languages in addition to COBOL such as C/C++, Java Script, Python. Some products, such as Micro Focus COBOL also offer integration with web development languages such as PHP.
Some of the COBOL IDEs currently on the market along with some of their features are listed in Table I below.
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Table I
A sample of a Zeus COBOL IDE screenshot appears below:
A review of the Zeus IDE can be fount on CNET at Zeus for Windows. Also on CNET is a review of the Cobos IDE.
In summary, some of my earlier posts (Continuance of the Mainframe Evolution, Evolution of Computing - Has Anything Changed), focused on mainframe forays into the Cloud and Mobile. Today we focus on how some of the tools available to mainframe programmers and mainframe application programmers have also been enhanced due to disruptions in the world of computing. As the mainframe evolves, the tools that support applications that run on it are evolving as well, and as such, continue to attract new generations to become avid supporters.
With regards to learning COBOL using and IDE, take the poll below to let us know whether it is effective. Click 'Yes' if you think it's easier to learn via IDE or 'No' if you think it's better to read the manual (sample below).
Bye for Now,
Brenda J. Christie
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