Re: Mainframer needs help on Power Cobol

From: Harley (dennis.harleyNoSpam_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 12/06/03 

Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 12:32:45 GMT

Thanks, again!

I've been busy putting out a production fire (luckily it ain't my fault,
ain't even my part of the system.)

I'll have a bit more time to look into a few more options for the Work-Flow
component.

I originally proposed changes to the current method ,Option A, but Option B
was already on the table, and I was told to proceed on Option B which
required the Work-Flow component. (Luckily, I got the Option A algorithm
incorporated into Option B.)

Using current production data I modeled (produced listings showing the
Work-Flow) the Current system, Option A, and Option B. (I wasn't supposed to
model Option A, but it's only a listing, I'm rather hard-headed, and they
humor me from time to time.)

The Option A results showed a significant improvement over the current
system, and the decision was made to implement Option A ASAP, and phase in
Option B. In the end, Option A will be used for 70% of the work, and Option
B will handle the remaining 30%.

More below.

"James J. Gavan" <jjgavan@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:3FCA4C7B.2E849F06@shaw.ca...
|
|
| Harley wrote:
|
| > It ain't my money.
| > If I were doing things on my own, I would buy the books with the CDs,
and
| > try out a few products.
| > Price is only part of the equation.
|
| As you are on a mainframe I'd already guessed money wasn't an obstacle
<G>.
|
| I'm sure F/J users will tell you your 'demo' version gives you a feel for
the
| product, but is somewhat limited compared to the latest available under
Versions
| 6 or 7.
|
| Yes of course the marketing people will gloss - unless your questions are
very
| direct.
| I don't recall that any of them have stated that you can get evaluation
copies -
| it's an all or nothing situation. You would have to check with those you
are
| interested in.

If I had a nickle for every time an Account Rep. told me someone was an
Excellent Programmer, I'd be retired by now.
Actually I'm tired, from having to fix the work of some of them Excellent
Programmers.

In short, I don't believe Account Reps, Car Salesmen, and other Marketing
People.
|
| As regards Net Express - also knowing that there are those who criticize
IDEs,
| generally - I find it does all that I want, plus a lot more. From
previous
| messages you will have seen I can find in the current source displayed and
if I
| want to find where I have used a method "getCurrentObject" I can do a
global
| search within the current IDE project - occurs in seconds. (Well used to -
| because I'm still currently screwed using the M/S RPCRT4.DLL that came
with Win
| 98). I also use my 'favourite' editor. I can switch from the M/F IDE to my
| 'editor' and back again. The only requirement to keep the thing in sync is
SAVE
| current source, prior to switching - the IDE is obviously checking a
Date/Time
| stamp for new compiles. (So I'm a little lost when the F/J people refer to
| binaries - problem doesn't occur with M/F).

I have the FJ V4.0 *free with a book* IDE, and it took me a few minutes to
set it up to use the SPF/SE Editor. So I don't have to switch out to Edit a
program.

The "binaries" are the Power Cobol source files, not the FJ Source file
which are pure text. Power Cobol has it's own IDE.

| As much as Pete enthuses about F/J he is on record that the Animator
(Debugger)
| in M/F is excellent/superb - and he was talking about the DOS version. It
is one
| terrific tool for finding bugs, stepping through code line-by-line or
running up
| to breakpoints..
|
| Should you wish to try Net Express - tell them you want a copy of the
University
| Edition (about $100) for evaluation. I believe the current UE is up to
Version
| 4.0, so it will have features I'm not aware of. You can develop full blown
| applications, (but not for distribution) and it has an undocumented upper
limit
| for volumes in files.

Sounds like an option I can afford.

| I should stress - I believe the Norcomm and Flexus products handle all the
PC
| compilers you are likely to be interested in.

Now that I have more time, I can do some research.

| Taking the following four, they have their pluses, and I doubt one could
say any
| have negatives. The first two don't have OO, to the best of my knowledge
:-
|
| - ACUCOBOL - originally had their own 'screening' which was 'dual' DOS
text or
| Windowing. Now I believe they use a third party product.
|
| - Liant(Ryan McFarland) - I think they were the first to introduce an XML
| module.
|
| - Fujitsu - you may have seen from previous messages that during the
'honeymoon'
| period they bent over backwards to give tech support. Now the marriage is
firmly
| established they have somewhat changed their tune.
|
| - Micro Focus - like F/J there is 'paid support' but also there is the
chat
| group Answer Exchange. Downside - runtime royalty fees. But that again
shouldn't
| worry you from a big iron installation, and apart from which, if your
| applications are in-house then no fee is involved.

They were using M/F where I'm at, actually they were trying to use it.

I've seen this at a few places.
They want to do Mainframe development on the PC, but they don't build an
infrastructure to support it, people get frustrated, and then don't use it.

The main problem is that systems have a number of Indexed (VSAM) files,
and/or RDB Tables, and they have to be "in sync".
You usually need a test system tailored to a test plan <G>.

It's so simple.
Put all your test data on a single file.
You need a front end to select and consolidate the data, and a back end to
distribute the data.
It ain't Rocket Science.
It beats the hell out of trying to keep track of which versions of 15 files
have to be used to run a test, and it simplifies the download process.

I know, because I've done it.
I also had a compare system built into it.
Select test data, Load the test system, Run the test, put the test results
on a single file, Run a system compare.
The QA group took it over.
The compare programs were generated from the Copy Books, so they took the
compare program generator also.
The first run uncovered an unknown bug.

| Jimmy, Calgary AB
|

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