About tinyCOBOL .......?

TinyCOBOL is a COBOL compiler being developed by members of the free software community.
It is a COBOL compiler based on the COBOL 85 standards.

TinyCOBOL is now avaliable for the Intel architecture(IA32) and compatible processors on the following platforms:

• FreeBSD.
• Linux.
• MinGW on Windows.

All the above systems use the GCC compiler.

TinyCOBOL is distributed under the following licenses:

• The compiler is licensed under the GNU General Public License .
• The run time libraries are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License .

HISTORY :-

The TinyCOBOL project creator and leader is Rildo Pragana.

See a brief historical note written by him about why this COBOL compiler.

This compiler was first implemented for generating a TSR (terminate and stay resident) program under DOS for my family of micro-terminals connected to a PC. The generated code could not be C (at that time), for there was no freely available C compiler for doing the "second phase" translation. I was supposed to generate masm-compatible assembly language.

The compiler was also required to communicate with a tiny multi task, responsible for making the PC console available for other tasks, while doing all processing on the background. So the code had to be fully reentrant (several terminals could be running it at the same time), with a separate stack and variable data segment areas, but with common literal area.

I had to disassemble a 2 feet high pile of listings, to understand how to make this work inside DOS, so no operation (even "pause" key) could make the system unavailable at the background, or the micro-terminals would not run.

The compiler was tiny, and accept only a subset of COBOL 74 standard, but could easily be expanded to full compliance. There were no "MOVE CORRESPONDING" nor "ALTER" statements, as most of COBOL programmers (our customers) didn't require them. There were no report generating functions also, because of the size constraints. We were supposed to run only with the first 640KB of memory, (I couldn't put at that time interrupts servicing outside that space) while leaving sufficient space for running the "foreground" applications.

I hope everyone understands now why this crappy thing had so many restrictions. Now, as we're moving to Linux, we will do much more, as there are none of those restrictions anymore.

DOWNLOADS:

Stable releases and CVS snapshots sources for the TinyCOBOL compiler are available.

Current and the older sources and binaries can be downloaded in

TinyCOBOL project downloads area

COBOL Products -- 2

=============================
Fujitsu Software
=============================
1 Fujitsu (WinTel)

Fujitsu COBOL for Windows
(See http://www.adtools.com/products/windows/cobol.htm)

Fujitsu COBOL for Windows is a complete COBOL development environment that allows you to create standalone COBOL applications and/or COBOL components for use with Microsoft® visual tools. Fujitsu COBOL for Windows Version 4 runs on Windows 95/98/NT.

FREE Fujitsu COBOL Version 3 Starter Set

(See http://www.adtools.com/download/v3starter/index.htm)

The easy-to-install Fujitsu COBOL Version 3 Starter Set contains a complete development and execution environment, allowing you to start building robust client/server applications immediately. The PowerBSORT OCX is ready to build into your applications. A full set of softcopy manuals is also available for downloading.


PowerCOBOL™

(See http://www.adtools.com/products/windows/pcobol.htm)

PowerCOBOL™ is a visual, object-oriented development environment that allows you to create graphical user interface (GUI) applications on Windows 95/98/NT. PowerCOBOL’s graphical development environment lets you use your COBOL expertise to efficiently build and execute complex GUI applications in the Microsoft® Windows environment. PowerCOBOL simplifies the process of programming for Windows by abstracting Windows APIs to a higher level.

Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET

(See http://www.adtools.com/dotnet/index.html)

By announcing support for the Microsoft .NET Framework, Fujitsu continues its long-standing effort to keep abreast of the technological advancements offered by Microsoft and other companies. Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET smoothly integrates with other languages such as Visual Basic, C++, and Java. Fujitsu Software is the only COBOL vendor to announce support for Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET, including Web Services.

PowerBSORT™

(See http://www.adtools.com/products/windows/pbsort.htm)

PowerBSORT significantly shortens the time needed to merge or sort data for business processing. You get rapid, high-performance merging and sorting of large volumes of data without disrupting your current environment. PowerBSORT thus offers a straightforward way to slash response times for merges and sorts.

PowerGEM Plus

(See http://www.adtools.com/products/windows/pgemplus.htm)

PowerGEM Plus is a graphical library system that allows you to maintain control of distributed development resources for a variety of languages on multiple platforms. PowerGEM Plus lets you set up local or network repositories, check files in and out, view change histories, and compare source versions.

Fujitsu COBOL for UNIX

(See http://www.adtools.com/products/unix/cobolux.htm)

Fujitsu COBOL for UNIX is a complete COBOL development suite -- compiler, run-time libraries, and debug tool. The highly optimized code produced by Fujitsu COBOL provides the basis for fast, mission-critical business systems on UNIX workstations.

3 Fujitsu–Siemens

1 - COBOL85 (BS2000/OSD)

COBOL85 is the COBOL compiler, providing support for the current ANSI/ISO COBOL Standard, open interfaces conforming to X/Open, and future standards for the server lines running BS2000/OSD.

For additional information, see:

http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/products/software/compiler/languages/cobol.html

2 - COBOL2000® (BS2000/OSD)

COBOL2000 (BS2000/OSD) V1.1 is a pre-standard COBOL Compiler for the server lines running under BS2000/OSD, which already makes the main new features of the future COBOL standard available today. The functionality of the previous versions, COBOL2000 (BS2000/OSD) V1.0 and COBOL85 (BS2000/OSD) V2.3, is naturally included in the new COBOL compiler. COBOL85 (BS2000/OSD) conforms to American National Standard X3.23-1985 with Addendum X3.23a-1989, international standard ISO 1989-1985 with Amendment 1:1992, German standard DIN 66028-1986 and European standard EN 21989, and has been validated to High Level.

For additional information, see:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/products/software/compiler/language/cobol2000.html
=================================
IBM Corporation
=================================
See http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/cobol/ for links to information on all of IBM's Mainframe, Midrange, and Workstation COBOL Products.

Also, if you are looking for IBM publications, you can find the complete online library at:

http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr_OS390/Shelves


=============================
LegacyJ Corporation
=============================
As this FAQ may not be updated in the same “cycle” as this (or other) vendors update their products, please do check out their website for the latest information on their products.

1 PERCobol™

PERCobol is the modern advanced function COBOL compiler permitting the creation of Graphical, Object Oriented, Platform independent, Java enabled COBOL applications. Applications compiled with PERCobol can fully exploit new capabilities.

PERCobol compiler technology permits existing COBOL applications to make use of modern COBOL features with little or no changes to existing code. PERCobol can be integrated with existing COBOL applications or can execute completely independent of any previous COBOL compiler or COBOL runtimes.

For supported operating systems and environments, see

http://www.legacyj.com/perc_plat.html

If a newer release/version is currently available, check out the LegacyJ sites for additional information.

1 LegacyJ Educational Program

Students can use PERCobol Educational one semester FREE. Options are available for Colleges, Universities and other institutions to teach advanced COBOL concepts with PERCobol. The LegacyJ Education Program may be ideal for your college or university

2 LegacyJ DDS Plug-in

LegacyJ DDS Plug-in permits the use and display of OS/400 DDS screens on any platform supporting Java. The LegacyJ DDS plug-in is the natural extension for COBOL and Java functioning with screens defined using IBM’s OS/400 Data Description Specification (DDS).

The DDS screen definitions, familiar to the OS/400 community, remain valuable and can continue to be used to define user interface interactions. The screens can be leveraged with the use of the DDS Plug-in, and unlike screen scraping, DDS screen definition records are controlled and displayed on the platform where they are deployed.

PERCobol in conjunction with DDS Plug-in maintains the same behavior as it did when solely resident on the iSeries while enabling the COBOL application to access data remotely on the iSeries server.

For additional information, see:

http://www.legacyj.com/DDSPlugin/index.html

========================================

Liant/Ryan McFarland
========================================

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. They also provide 100% portable data files.

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

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.

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.

=================================================
Relativity® (at one time also known as Relational Data Bridge)
==================================================
This product allows you ODBC access to your COBOL data.
You can update and insert records from ODBC.



================================
Micro Focus
================================

1 Micro Focus® Net Express™ 3.1

(See http://www.microfocus.com/products/netexpress)

Micro Focus Net Express is a ground-breaking development environment that takes core business processes written in COBOL and extends them to the Web and other distributed platforms. With Net Express, your programmers can quickly construct enterprise components from your existing business logic and use these to develop new Web or client/server applications across your distributed enterprise. Because Net Express leverages your legacy applications and programming resources, it reduces the development cycle and accelerates deployment of new state-of-the-art applications.

2 Object COBOL Developer Suite

(See http://www.microfocus.com/products/ocds )

Object COBOL Developer Suite provides an integrated environment for developing and deploying client/server and standalone applications on a wide range of UNIX and Linux platforms. Its advanced features include:

- COBOL access to industry standard Object Request Broker (ORB) technology

- A flexible, cross-platform COBOL compiler

- Powerful programmer productivity tools

- Object COBOL™ class libraries

- Transparent support for large files

- DBCS application support

- User interface development tools

- Ability to execute Web server applications created using Micro Focus Express™

- Run-time facilities that simplify application deployment

3 Micro Focus® Server Express

(see http://www.microfocus.com/products/serverexpress )

Specifically designed for performance and reliability to support high-volume transaction processing applications, Server Express is the platform of choice for deploying e-business and distributed applications. Server Express accelerates enterprise COBOL application performance to the next level providing the fastest ever Micro Focus COBOL® product for UNIX. Server Express helps to dramatically reduce deployment costs and provides increased service levels through state-of-the-art capabilities.

4 Micro Focus® Mainframe Express

(See http://www.microfocus.com/products/mainframeexpress )

To stay competitive, businesses must exploit their hardware and software development investments by cost-effectively maintaining current systems, while at the same time delivering new applications with emerging technologies that interface with current production business logic. Mainframe Express helps businesses do both by providing an industry-leading workstation-based COBOL development environment that includes advanced, integrated application development tools that streamline workflow and dramatically increase programmer productivity.

5. Academic Products

(See http://www.microfocus.com/academic)

· Net Express™ University Edition V3.0
Learn and write COBOL for the PC, e-business, Internet/Intranet, and distributed computing environments!

· Personal COBOL for Windows 3.1 V1.1
Runs on Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT!

· Personal COBOL for DOS V2.0
The DOS compiler of choice for the first time COBOL student

================================
WANG
================================

“Wang's COBOL ReSource is alive and well, running in AIX on RS/6000 and HP/UX on HP-9000. Sites running 300-500 users in shared, indexed files are not unusual and a site or two runs over 1,000 users. All the key components are ports of Wang VS code, including the very able file system.

Care of the product was outsourced by Wang to SRDI of Australia a few years ago, before Wang was acquired by Getronics. I represent SRDI in most parts of the world and am the focal point for most new migrations from Wang VS to COBOL ReSource. I do not have any performance comparisons of ReSource against MF or AC but I have comparisons of ReSource on modest RS/6000 boxes against a range of Wang VS models and a couple of HP models. Wang's COBOL 85 generates native assembler code, then assembles it and links it using the native tools, all automatically, on all three platforms that support it -- the Wang VS line and COBOL ReSource on RS/6000 and HP-9000.”

For additional information on COBOL ReSource, see:

http://www.tjunker.com/ and select “COBOL ReSource”

COBOL : THE MicroSOFT Links ........!!!

Fujitsu COBOL To Support Microsoft .NET Platform;

Fujitsu COBOL's support of the Microsoft .NET Platform will give COBOL programmers immediate access to leading-edge technologies.

Fujitsu Software Corporation product Fujitsu COBOL will support the Microsoft .NET Platform when it is first released in 2001.

Fujitsu COBOL developers will be able to take advantage of all of the latest technologies provided by the Microsoft .NET Platform.

This is a significant advance for the COBOL application development community that often has to wait for COBOL vendors to catch up with the latest Microsoft features. By supporting this new platform, Fujitsu Software Corporation ensures that COBOL will be an equal player with other languages such as Visual Basic and C++ when it comes to using the latest technology. COBOL developers will have access to the latest in Web services and application development frameworks, such as ASP+, Microsoft's successor to Active Server Pages (ASP).

"The Microsoft .NET Platform provides significant improvements in the creation, execution, and deployment of sophisticated graphical and Web-based systems," said Ron Langer, Director, COBOL Sales and Marketing, for Fujitsu Software Corporation. "COBOL is still the best language for business application development, so it makes a lot of sense for us to partner with Microsoft to integrate COBOL fully into the Microsoft .NET Platform."
===================================================================

Micro Focus Announces .Net Interoperability to Complement

Cobol/Java Support in Net Express 3.1

New functionality enables companies to use COBOL business logic in e-business applications

Micro Focus International Ltd. (Micro Focus(R)), a leading global enterprise development company for legacy systems, today announced further enhancements to its popular Net Express(R) product for developing and extending distributed COBOL applications to the Web. Increasing the return-on-investment in legacy systems, this groundbreaking development environment now supports interoperability with Microsoft .NET technologies in addition to the COBOL/Java interoperability introduced in Net Express 3.1.

.NET is an environment for developing and running software applications that offers rich standard run-time services available to components written in a variety of programming languages, and inter-language and inter-machine interoperability.

Net Express provides the only scalable alternative to running COBOL systems on the mainframe, offering companies a low-risk, cost-effective means of leveraging their legacy assets in an e-business environment. By implementing Net Express, companies can maximize reuse of existing IBM mainframe and proprietary platform COBOL applications, enabling them to participate in e-business applications across the enterprise. In addition, companies can now transform core business applications written in COBOL and extend them to the Web and other distributed platforms, including UNIX and Windows.

"With 85 percent of the world's business data accessed from COBOL, companies are struggling with ways to transform legacy code into evolving e-business applications which guarantee that customers, suppliers and partners can access, interact and benefit from this existing data," said Ian Archbell, vice president and director of product management of Micro Focus. "Net Express provides an unmatched solution for leveraging a company's legacy investment and programming resources to reduce the development cycle and accelerate the deployment of new applications."

=====================================================

COBOL Commercial Vendors :-

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.
=========================
Acucorp
=========================
1. AcuCOBOL-GT

(See http://www.acucorp.com/solutions/datasheets/acucobolgt/)

If it's your job to write COBOL applications that conquer today's complex, transaction intensive, network-centric information systems, you need an advanced COBOL - a COBOL that allows you to leverage modern IS technologies, while freeing you from proprietary hardware - a COBOL that delivers the best performance, flexibility, scalability, and platform independence. You need ACUCOBOL-GT. At Acucorp, we have pioneered technologies that enable COBOL applications to take advantage of today's advanced computing environments. We offer technology that allows you to run your COBOL applications on hundreds of platforms in every type of client/server environment, without recompilation. We can enable you to move your legacy data to a relational database or ODBC data source and access it from your COBOL program, without having to embed SQL or recode your COBOL application in any way. If you want your application to retrieve data from a remote UNIX or Windows NT server, or launch a program on a remote server - without recoding - you can do it with Acucorp technology. If you want to make your COBOL application available to users of the Internet, you can do it with Acucorp technology. If you want to use COBOL to add a native GUI front-end to your COBOL application, you can do it with Acucorp technology

2 AcuBench™

(See http://www.acucorp.com/solutions/datasheets/acubench/)

Acucorp, Inc., the industry leader in open systems COBOL development tools, is pleased to offer AcuBench, an integrated development environment for ACUCOBOL™-GT. Available for the Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems, AcuBench contains a set of graphically based, GT-optimized development tools, including a Project Manager, WYSIWYG Screen Painter, and language sensitive source Code Editor.
======================================
Compaq COBOL
=======================================
1 Compaq COBOL (for Alpha and VAX)

NOTE: - Compaq is now a part of HP. This section will be revised eventually.

Compaq COBOL (formerly known as DIGITAL (DEC and VAX) COBOL) is a high-level language for business data processing that operates on the OpenVMS (VAX and Alpha), Tru64 UNIX (Alpha) and Windows NT (Alpha) platforms. It is a high-performance, optimizing compiler environment that is based upon the 1985 ANSI COBOL Standard X3.23-1985 as modified by the X.23a-1989 amendment. Compaq COBOL is designed to maximize source-code level compatibility between supported platforms. The Compaq extensions to COBOL, include screen handling (ACCEPT/DISPLAY) at the source language level, file sharing and record locking and others. Support for ORACLE CDD/Repository, and some X/Open features are also provided.

See: http://h71000.www7.hp.com/commercial/cobol/

Online documentation is available at:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/cobol.html

2 Compaq COBOL85 Programming Language (for NonStop Himalaya Servers)

The Compaq COBOL85 programming language is an ANSI-compliant language for developing online transaction processing (OLTP) and batch applications for Compaq NonStop™ Himalaya servers. Special Compaq extensions to the ANSI specifications allow COBOL programmers to access the unique capabilities of the Compaq NonStop™ Himalaya server architecture using a language that they already know.

See http://nonstop.compaq.com/view.asp?IO=TDCB85PD
==========================================
Computer Associates/Realia
==========================================
1 Advantage™ CA-Realia® II Workbench

Advantage™ 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 Windows 9x, Windows NT 4.0 SP3, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

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 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.

See : http://ca.com/products/realiaii_workbench.htm

for details and add on products.

Technical Support (including documentation) is available from webpage:

http://esupport.ca.com/public/cobol_testing/realia/realia-wkbch_supp.asp

At times, there's a heavy burden of responsibility that goes with this job--like today's news on COBOL. And why do I feel a sense of responsibility in talking about COBOL? Well, for one thing, no one else seems to, and with an estimated 200 billion lines of COBOL code in use, it's clearly something right up a lot of programmers' alley. Moreover, as Dr. Dobb's senior contributing editor Al Stevens once said, "I'll never say anything bad about COBOL. It put meals on my family's table for a lot of years." So here's the news about COBOL...

Veryant has rolled out its new isCOBOL Application Suite 2008 that includes a compiler, IDE, debugging tools, and portable GUI that can execute on any device--from mainframes to mobile phones--running a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Actually, it's kind of cool that the isCOBOL compiler and runtime are written in 100-percent Java, which means that COBOL developers can design one UI and deploy it across many platforms, ranging from AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris, to Linux, Windows, and mainframes. Other isCOBOL features include Web 2.0 components, such as calendar date-entry, gain/lost focus event, keystroke functions, and accordion panel, as well as optimized TCP/IP communications to improve performance and response time when running in isCOBOL Server thin clients.

Then there's long-time COBOL kingpin Micro Focus, which has announced a special relationship with Microsoft to provide more integration between Microsoft and Micro Focus tools. Specifically, Micro Focus will extend its Net Express, SOA Express, and Enterprise Server tools for customers developing managed-code, 64-bit applications that leverage .NET, SQL Server, Team Foundation Server, BizTalk Server, and System Center Operations Manager. No talk of mobile phones or motor scooters there. We're talking big iron at the enterprise.

And with news that's a little easier to swallow, Micro Focus announced that Miller Brewing--you know, the folks who brew beer under the Coors, Hamm's, Keystone, Icehouse, Miller's, and Red Dog labels, among others--has implemented Micro Focus Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition (MFEEE) to reduce its reliance on mainframes. Miller's mainframe currently features 40,000 programs and COBOL applications, which are managed by its proprietary Production Installation Transfer System (PITS)--Miller's process of moving mainframe jobs, programs, and copybooks into production. For business reasons, Miller wanted to transition the company's reliance from mainframes to server-based and workstation environments. Consequently, Miller wrote a .NET application to move programs back and forth from the mainframe, which allowed for 25 percent of Miller's mainframe development to be done using Mainframe Express. To launch the project, Miller first installed MFEEE on its Citrix farm, moving 10,000 APS programs over to Mainframe Express. After generating all programs and converting the APS code to COBOL, Miller compiled and tested a selected set of programs and installed MFEEE into production. Miller's next step is to move testing from the mainframe to Windows, explore the use of SOA, and move the entire system to Windows.

( Jonathan Erickson )

PROgrammer TOOLS - 2

Cobol Programming Tools

SheerPower 4GL -- Beyond BASIC -- 3.4 SheerPower 4GL -- Beyond BASIC is an easy to use and easy to learn language with a complete high-speed CGI interface to Microsoft's IIS server. Create sexy Web-based applications in a snap. Impress yourself. Impress your friends. Download SheerPower 4GL today. It's FREE! SheerPower 4GL is the Next Generation Programming Language for Windows. Novices, hobbyists and professionals all benefit from using SheerPower 4GL....	03 1.8 MB Freeware Download More Info
Web Site Robot 2.4 Web Site Robot is an easy to use site builder with blog tool, shopping cart, and online photo album. It is free and does not require additional software, HTML, programming, or hosting company. It enables secure online payments with credit cards, automatically creates and links thumbnails and music samples. There is unlimited storage space for your html, document, blog, photo, music, video, or any multimedia content.	24.5 MB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
Botonoid 1.70 A fast and funny Arkanoid clone by Bottomap Software. Made entirely with Botolib (our upcoming ease-to-use game programming library). Destroy bricks and escape seagulls droppings with your ship. More infos on our website. NB:DirectX9.0+ required	005 1.9 MB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
phpFaber TopSites 1.7.2 phpFaber TopSites is a feature-packed, reliable and secure Top List coded in PHP and mySQL. phpFaber TopSites has proven its reliability time and time again under the most active server environments. Our feature list is large, including all elements you need to easily maintain your list, and even make money of it. phpFaber TopSites can be integrated with all your favourite applications to save you the hassle of running two separate user...	330.0 KB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
Message Manager 1.03 Message Manager is a joke program that will enable you to create your own Windows dialog to be displayed. You are in control of the dialog, and there is no programming necessary. This joke program will allow you to setup a message dialog to be displayed on someone's computer. You can specify the text to be displayed, the image, the buttons (up to 9), and when to display the message. You can Load and Save a specific message from with a...	152.0 KB Freeware Download More Info
Splash Screen 1.0.0 Easily Create Professional Splash Screen for your Application. Set the background image and other properties and the splash screen will behave as expected. Add custom images or text in runtime on splash screen with callback method. The product comes bundled with help and source code samples which illustrate a wide variety of programming techniques in C#.	1.9 MB Freeware Download More Info
MaxMedia (light edition) 1.00 Now it is easy to create the most incredible interactive multimedia applications - no programming is required! Even inexperienced users can combine text, images, buttons, videos, sounds, animation and other elements. MaxMedia is a multimedia authoring system that allows you to create interactive programs such as: presentations, photo albums, kiosks, electronic books and magazines (e-books), greeting cards (e-cards), computer-based training...	2.7 MB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
Acoola Free 1.4 Acoola Free displays animated images with nice looking transition effects and can be the solution for your web ads. Every image has associated click URL and once image is clicked, a new window is opened at the new location. The applet can be used to increase the number of banner impressions and clicks on your site. The installation is simple and the use is very effective and appealing.	61.4 KB Freeware Download More Info
Free Web Buttons 1.01 Free Web Buttons helps you create cool web buttons and menus with ease. Free! Its very easy to create professional high-quality web buttons with the help of Free Web Buttons. Once installed youlll be making buttons for your web site with no programming or drawing required. Each parameter of a button may be easily changed, allowing you to achieve the required result. You can set such parameters as direction, size, color, font face, font style,...	622.0 KB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
Yunus 2.8 Yunus Programming Language (Yunus is the most intelligent creature of the ocean. Yunus means Dolphin.) Producer:Tarik Bagriyanik tbagriyanik@mynet.com www.yunus.projesi.com Start Date: November 2001 Update: February 2003 Type: Open Source Freeware Visual Programming Language Total Lines: 17.200 (600 hours) Aim: To produce an object oriented visual language by using : Delphi 6 Source: www.delphiturk.com, DelphiTurk KodBank, Delphi 3 Marco...	1.2 MB Freeware Download More Info
La Guerra Esosa 1.60 A fast and funny Space Invaders clone by Bottomap Software. Made entirely with Botolib (our upcoming, ease-to-use game programming library) NB:DirectX9.0+ required	4.9 MB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
CDInterface Studio developers site 1.2.0 CDInterface studio is a free tool to create autorun/autoplay cd menus for your software collection.Will organize your softwares and have all the informations you want - title,description,serial number,updates,etc...Will autorun any file you want.An easy to use interface.No programming language is required.	1.1 MB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
evolvEd 1.8 evolvEd« is a FREE general purpose text editor useful for web-developing, programming and scripting. Easy to use, with all the features a power user requires. When "just getting the job done" is work enough, the last thing you need is to waste time having to learn yet another computer application. Your experience with other tools should be relevant to each new application, making it possible to sit down and use that new application right...	921.0 KB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
The Bouncy Killer 1.10 A fast and funny arcade remake of an old VIC20 game. By Bottomap Software. Made entirely with Botolib (our upcoming, ease-to-use game programming library) NB:DirectX9.0+ required	450.6 KB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
VB Project Eye 1.2 VB Project Eye is an analysis tool that determines the calls of all procedures and variable in shortest time, traces dead code and allows a slight navigation through the call trees of a Visual Basic project . In addition, it shows the distribution of the programming effort in open statistics over the individual modules as a number of code lines or of procedures and variables.	527.0 KB Freeware Screenshot Download More Info
Subject Search Server (SSServer) 1.00 SSServer is a powerful server-based search assistant, which adds the professional ability for visitors to search your Web site for the information they want. The SSServer package can be installed and configured in minutes without any programming or scripting knowledge. Plus, SSServer 1.0 doesn't require display of advertising in the searches it produces. As with all Kryloff Technologies' search products, SSServer provides intelligent Subject...	1.4 MB Freeware Download More Info

Should COBOL come back .....?

Recently , I was going through and found encouraging ---

so I thought to present it as it is and read on ---------

Cobol, that much-maligned zombie of a programming language, simply refuses to die and has been back in the news of late--particularly in California where it made headlines for thwarting the governor's budget-cutting plans. Michael Swaine will have a little something to say on the subject in the next issue of DDJ--but until then, you can take a walk down Cobol's memory lane with this status report, written by IBM's Henry Saade and Ann Wallace for a 1995 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal.

Cobol '97: A Status Report

Cobol gets object oriented

by Henry Saade and Ann Wallace



If you think that Cobol is a language for days past, consider that, according to the Datapro Information Services Group, an estimated 150 billion lines of Cobol source code are at work in mission-critical business applications worldwide, and programmers add about five billion lines each year. Likewise, International Data Corp. reports that revenues for Cobol desktop development are expected to increase to $176.4 million by 1998, up from $86.3 million in 1993. These figures indicate a solid average growth rate of about 15.4 percent a year. In medium-size and large U.S. companies, 42.7 percent of all applications-development staffs use Cobol. Thirty-five percent of such companies report that the language is used for more than two-thirds of their applications.

While languages such as C++ and Smalltalk garner the lion's share of attention from the object-oriented community, Cobol has also been making object-oriented strides. In particular, a proposed revision of the Cobol standard includes object-oriented extensions. The draft standard is being developed jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Accredited Standards Committee X3 (ASC X3), the latter operating under the procedures of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The target date for completion of the proposed standard is 1997.
While we will focus in this article on the object-oriented extensions to Cobol, we will also highlight other features proposed in the draft.

Historically Speaking
Cobol's early acceptance can be traced to the fact that it was the first stable, portable business language. Since the language was conceived in 1959 by the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL), committees have continually refined and improved it, incorporating innovative programming methods. CODASYL, ANSI, and ISO have regularly published the agreed-upon standards emerging from these committees.

With the incorporation of structured programming, the 1985 standard (ANSI X3.23-1985) introduced major enhancements to Cobol. Structured-programming concepts were part of a movement in programming methodology toward replacing unwieldy, multibranching "spaghetti" code with a more tightly controlled flow of logic. As part of Cobol, it gave users more readable and maintainable programs.
Standardization has given Cobol a high degree of reliability and portability. From the beginning, programmers wanted Cobol to be a robust language that they could use on any platform or computer. This need expanded as multiplatform installations became more common in the 1980s. Vendors met the challenge by making standard-compliant implementations of Cobol available on many platforms and systems, including mainframe and midrange computers, DOS, UNIX, Windows, and OS/2. (IBM, for example, uses the same Cobol compiler technology on MVS, VM, VSE, AIX, and OS/2.)

Today, the 1985 Cobol standard is widely accepted, and most industry and government organizations rely on adherence to it. In order to bid on government jobs, for instance, Cobol implementations must conform to the Federal Information Processing Standard for Cobol (FIPS 21-4), which is based on Cobol standards.

A New Standard
The draft 1997 proposal for Cobol incorporates the basic object-oriented programming capabilities found in C++ and Smalltalk (see Table 1): inheritance, which allows objects to inherit data and behaviors from other objects; polymorphism, which simplifies coding by letting programmers use a single interface to access objects of different classes; and encapsulation, which hides the implementation of data and methods from clients (user code), thereby protecting clients from the effects of implementation change.

what isCOBOL ...!

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With isCOBOL APS, all development and debugging tasks are performed in a familiar, flexible and user-friendly COBOL environment -- no retraining or rewriting code required. The isCOBOL Compiler translates COBOL source code into Java classes that are then executed with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

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’forever’ Cobol is ....?

IS COBOL ,...... ...... .... forever !!!

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With more than 95% of all the financial and insurance information being processed by Cobol, this 3GL( Generation Language ) is here to stay.

The future of Cobol

While many Cobol programmers around the world are aging, with younger programmers taking up newer languages, the global Cobol community still comprises around 2m developers.

And while there are motivations to move to newer technologies, the amount of code that some companies would have to have re-written poses a serious risk. Furthermore, the hype around newer technology does not detract from the fact that it is still good business sense to look at what is best for business process needs.

While front-end applications are increasingly becoming interactive and use more modern programming languages, back-end infrastructures still require a robust a business language like Cobol to process transactions en mases, which is why the language continues to be so important globally.

This is underpinned by the move by universities like Oxford Brooke's University and the University of Central England in the UK to begin offering an IT Management for Business degree in 2008 to boost legacy skills in that country.

In SA, the banks and insurance agencies continue to boost their COBOL skills, training hundreds of Cobol developers between them each year, while universities like Taiwanese and Wits University are investigating introducing COBOL training into IT-focused degrees, emphasizing the continued importance of COBOL locally for the foreseeable future.

Not much in IT has staying power. What is here today is gone tomorrow. The ICT landscape now changes significantly on almost a yearly basis, except for one notable stalwart, which has been around for almost 50 years - the programming language called COBOL - Common Business Oriented Language.

While the mainframe environment certainly does not have the attraction of .Net or Java, the reality is that behind the scenes, Cobol continues to be the most important programming language in the world today.

Why? Because Cobol applications account for 60% of all the applications that are currently in operation, and around 85% of all the transactions (globally) that are processed (Database and Network Journal). The Aberdeen Group estimates that $2 trillion has been invested in mainframe applications in corporations that house approximately 70% of all critical business logic and data, while Gartner says Cobol code accounts for 65% (200bn lines of code) of the total software in use.

At the Cobol Future 2007 event in Rotterdam earlier this year, it was stated that more than 60% of all company information accessible through the Internet is stored on mainframes, with 83% of all transactions and 95% of all financial and insurance data being processed by Cobol mainframes.

Do you know the reason why COBOL is still the first choice of financial institutions is - - -

because mission-critical high throughput systems require proven technology, predictability, reliability, scalability, high performance and ease of integration to function optimally.

And that is exactly what Cobol provides.

Cobol - here , there and everywhere .......!!!!!

So while most people are not aware of Cobol in their daily use of IT, if you log onto Internet banking and make a payment or transfer funds, you are actually triggering a Cobol transaction on the bank’s mainframe. Cobol is indirectly a fundamental part of most people’s lives.

And while Cobol is pre-eminent in the mainframe environment, it has also proven its worth as one of the most portable languages, and is now found on virtually all hardware platforms and operating systems around the world.

Fifty years on, Cobol has also become a first class citizen in the .NET framework, co-existing and engaging with all other languages and technologies supported in that framework.

- sources from history

Do U know GRACE HOPPER . . . ?

Grace Hopper, the woman credited with establishing COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) as the language of business, would be pleased to know that 100 years after her birth, the language still underpins many applications that keep modern businesses going.

This Tuesday is the Centenary birthday of Grace Hopper, who was born on December 9, 1906. Often referred to as "the mother of COBOL," her contribution to the theory and practice of programming is commonly appreciated as enormous. She is credited, among other achievements, with being the first person to develop a compiled program in an age when computers worked by running programs that were interpreted one line at a time.

Grace Hopper

Hopper got her first degree in mathematics and physics at Yale University and her master's in the same subjects. She taught at Vassar College before joining the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1943 and working on one of the earliest electronic calculators, the Harvard Mark 1. She was in her element working as, effectively, one of the world's first computer programmers--and she was very good at it. (For a comprehensive bio, read Wikipedia's entry on Hopper.)

She continued working on the Harvard Mark 1 and Mark 2 before moving to another company in 1949 to work on the Univac 1, where she developed the compiler.

After returning to the Navy, she worked on validating software written in the new language, COBOL, with which her name would be indelibly associated. Her greatest achievement in computing was here, as she gradually evolved the idea that software should be easy to use instead of being a long string of mathematical functions and notations.

From that point came the principle that programs should be easy enough for businesspeople to use and understand; in principle, COBOL is for the businessperson, not the scientist.

"COBOL is still in use today and plays a part in those programs that keep businesses running," said Julian Dobbins, director of product management at Micro Focus, one of the key companies still developing for the language. "(Analyst firm) Gartner reckons that 75 percent of business transactions are still done in COBOL."

Banks and other financial institutions are chiefly accountable for this high figure. Systems that run banking transactions, such as those used by ATM's, were largely written years ago and are still running. They are economical and efficient, and COBOL code is easy to fix if these go wrong, so, the argument goes, why change them?

As for new applications, there is little, if any, work still done in COBOL, with more modern languages, such as C++, having replaced it.

So why use COBOL today? "As a programming language, it was designed on sound principles," Dobbins said. "And you can take modern principles like Web services and service-oriented architectures (SOA), and find that it offers really very easy deployment."

But even Dobbins, who has used COBOL himself since his college days, admits that COBOL is stuck with a poor image. "I remember chatting with a programmer at a conference and talking about using COBOL in object-oriented apps," Dobbins recalled. "He said, 'Why would I want to do that? It would be like turbo charging an oxcart.' My response was to say that the world does not rely on oxcarts."

Dobbins sticks with the view that the world does rely on COBOL. Dobbins believes that the principles that make COBOL a sound language to this day are those first established by Grace Hopper and that 100 years after her birth, the world should continue to be grateful for them.

Hopper died January 1, 1992.

A feature in " 100 yrs of GRACE HOPPER '