News

Java-COBOL Integrator Updated

• By John K. Waters
• August 23, 2010

Java-COBOL integration tools provider Veryan has upgraded its flagship isCOBOL Application Platform Suite (isCOBOL APS). Release 2 of the 2010 APS adds new features to its integrated development environment (IDE), new data migration and file management utilities, and some updated resource management features.

The isCOBOL APS provides an environment that allows developers to program in COBOL, while generating pure Java output. It allows COBOL user-words to reference Java classes and automatically converts Java data types to the COBOL type that will work in a particular statement. Programs written in COBOL can be called directly from Java as though they had been written in Java. And the code gets deployed across multiple platforms in an open Java framework.

Among the most notable new features in Release 2 is the ability to set conditional breakpoints from within the IDE in which the debugger evaluates when a breakpoint is reached. As Veryant explains this feature, "if a condition is satisfied, then the debugger will stop at the designated line of code and allow a user to examine variables, step through the code, and take other actions."

In general, this release aims to provide greater customization and control of COBOL-friendly application development tasks, the Phoenix, Ariz.-based company said, including an update to the IDE that gives developers mode-setting options (Debug, Release, User-defined, etc.); a new, intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) for the data migration utility ISMIGRATE; a new file editor (the Veryant Graphical Indexed File Editor, or GIFE), which is designed to allow developers to read, modify, add or delete individual records stored in an indexed file instantly from a GUI interface; and enhanced thin client administration tools.

Veryant's isCOBOL pitch is a straightforward one: The software "blends the optimized, business-oriented nature of COBOL with the openness, portability, and power of Java, without retraining staff or rewriting code." Given that about 60 percent of the world’s business applications were originally written in COBOL, it's a compelling proposition. COBOL is one of the oldest high-level programming languages; so many older enterprises have a big investment in this code, an estimated 200 billion-plus lines of which are currently running in companies around the world.

Earlier this year, Veryant added support for Eclipse Galileo in isCOBOL APS.

The isCOBOL APS, Release 2, is available now. For more information on this release, go here.