Open Cobol is free and standard.
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From: john on 11 Feb 2010 14:15 I have seen posts that state that Cobol compilers are expensive. In fact there are two free compilers that run on desktop computers. I have settled on Open Cobol because there is a bigger crew of programmers working on it. Installation on Linux is straightforward. Installation on Windows is, shall we say, an all-day job. Open Cobol installs on Windows using the cygwin suite, which creates a linux-like environment for compiling programs. Cygwin is found here: http://www.cygwin.com If one downloads the NIST test suite per the instructions the compiler can be checked out against the Cobol85 standard. It takes a while becuase cygwin is a slow environment and there are hundreds of test programs. OC has features that go beyond Cobol85, taken from Cobol2002. More are added in a steady stream. Objective Cobol is not one of them, at least not yet. OC has special modes for programs coming out of other environments, like IBM, Microfocus etc. A person can learn most of Cobol by using this compiler. For learning CICS I suggest the Murach book on that subject. Of course one can also write useful programs in Open Cobol. John Culleton
From: Howard Brazee on 11 Feb 2010 16:52 On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:15:07 -0800 (PST), "john(a)wexfordpress.com" <john(a)wexfordpress.com> wrote: >Of course one can also write useful programs in Open Cobol. I really have no idea what kind of hobbyist program I would want to write in CoBOL. CoBOL has one huge advantage for me - I know it well. But what am I going to write that's useful or fun for me on my home computer? For me, a useful CoBOL program is one that someone pays me for. -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison
From: Alistair on 12 Feb 2010 10:23 On Feb 11, 9:52 pm, Howard Brazee <how...(a)brazee.net> wrote: > On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:15:07 -0800 (PST), "j...(a)wexfordpress.com" > > <j...(a)wexfordpress.com> wrote: > >Of course one can also write useful programs in Open Cobol. > > I really have no idea what kind of hobbyist program I would want to > write in CoBOL. > > CoBOL has one huge advantage for me - I know it well. But what am I > going to write that's useful or fun for me on my home computer? > How about the text based moon landing program? ;-)
From: john on 12 Feb 2010 11:41 On Feb 12, 10:23 am, Alistair <alist...(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: > On Feb 11, 9:52 pm, Howard Brazee <how...(a)brazee.net> wrote: > > > On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:15:07 -0800 (PST), "j...(a)wexfordpress.com" > > > <j...(a)wexfordpress.com> wrote: > > >Of course one can also write useful programs in Open Cobol. > > > I really have no idea what kind of hobbyist program I would want to > > write in CoBOL. > > > COBOL has one huge advantage for me - I know it well. But what am I > > going to write that's useful or fun for me on my home computer? > > How about the text based moon landing program? ;-) I think that was the first C program. How about a General Ledger system, with inventory control and order entry as add-ons later? The gui user interface for menus and data entry could be by Tcl/TK. Open Cobol includes the SCREEN SECTION as well, but today's user is GUI oriented. Cygwin includes Tcl/Tk also.
From: SkippyPB on 12 Feb 2010 11:49
On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:52:43 -0700, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: >On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:15:07 -0800 (PST), "john(a)wexfordpress.com" ><john(a)wexfordpress.com> wrote: > >>Of course one can also write useful programs in Open Cobol. > >I really have no idea what kind of hobbyist program I would want to >write in CoBOL. > >CoBOL has one huge advantage for me - I know it well. But what am I >going to write that's useful or fun for me on my home computer? > >For me, a useful CoBOL program is one that someone pays me for. If I could write programs in Cobol for use on the PC with gui and all, I have several things in mind that I'd like to do. I could these things in CICS utilitzing VSAM files also, but I doubt my clients would like what I have in mind on their mainframes and it certainly wouldn't be as pretty. Regards, -- //// (o o) -oOO--(_)--OOo- "An oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." -- Sam Goldman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remove nospam to email me. Steve |