[Info-vax] VMS Cobol - GnuCOBOL

[bill]

On 2/26/2023 10:05 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
> On 2023-02-25 13:00, Neil Rieck wrote:
>> I first used COBOL on an HP-3000 more than 40-years ago and would like 
>> to remind everyone here that a COBOL compiler license was always very 
>> expensive. Heck, some companies like IBM hung their reputations on 
>> being able to run COBOL programs -AND- that their compilers produced 
>> the largest amount of executable binary which is backwards from the 
>> way we think today. IIRC, full ISAM support was an optional purchase 
>> on all PDP-11 operating systems from DEC, but then DEC decided to 
>> bundle it with VMS primarily to support the never released COBOL-80 
>> standard (later appeared as COBOL-85).
> 
> ISAM support was standard on at least RSX and RSTS/E. RMS is a standard 
> component. 

I was curious enough to look in my RSTS/E product biiklet from
83-84.  No mention of an option there.

>             However, keywords like SORT in COBOL (it is a keyword, 
> right?) requires SORT-11 which was standard on RSTS/E but was/is a 
> separate layered product on RSX.

In it's early days SORT was almost always a call to an external
routine for COBOL.  At least it was in my experience with UNIVAC
and IBM.

> 
>> comment: ISAM was important elsewhere on VMS including the fact that 
>> SYSUAF.DAT was indexed
> 
> Yeah, I don't think anything in RSTS/E or RSX on the system level used 
> indexed files. VMS I know a little bit less, but since RMS integration 
> went deeper in VMS, I'm not surprised if more things made use of it.

Today, it is hard to imagine any reason for using ISAM/VSAM.  Small
Simple Databases like MySQL/MariaDB or SQLite can do a better job
and in most cases are probably just as easy to understand.  GnuCOBOL
integrates both of them quite well.

> 
>> I've only been working with Linux since 2016 but have been surprised 
>> about the quantity of good quality software in that eco-system which 
>> can be obtained for free. Anyone who has ever used gcc (gnu compiler 
>> collection) knows what I am typing about. This tool can generate C11 
>> by the way.
>>
>> (CAVEAT: the down side of opensource is that if you discover a bug, it 
>> may take years to get it fixed. In some instances you are better off 
>> fixing the problem yourself then submitting the solution to the 
>> authors. This has happened to me more times than one would think. This 
>> happened to me last week with the python SOAP library known as zeep)
> 
> That downside is also an upside. If you discover a bug you do not have 
> to wait for the author to fix it. If it is urgent/important, you can fix 
> it immediately yourself. I would say that is a *big* upside.

That only works if you still have a real IT Department. Too many
businesses have outsourced all of this to the cloud and different
kinds of OPC (Other People's Computers) leaving themselves at the
mercy of other people to keep their business going.  The IT world
has become no different than all the other business with supply
chain problems because they decided having it done in another
country was a wise decision.


bill