Making COBOL Dance!

[Robert]

Hey folks,

At several of the MUG meetings I've attended I got the impression that most people use Micro Focus Net Express for just compiling a COBOL program.

Yes, most of the attendees used Net Express to compile and animate a programs, but that was about the gist of it.

What more is there you ask?

Ahhh... There are tons o' things you can do with COBOL!

"Like I was saying, COBOL is the fruit of the sea....You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it....There's COBOL kabobs, COBOL creole, COBOL gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried, pineapple COBOL, lemon COBOL, coconut COBOL, pepper COBOL, COBOL soup, COBOL stew, COBOL salad, COBOL and potatoes, COBOL burger and a COBOL sandwich."

Now I'm not saying you can do ANYTHING with COBOL...

Well maybe I am saying that...

How would you like to learn how to do a bit more with COBOL, specifically under Windows?

I might be able to show you a few things but I need to get a feel for what would be of interest to the members of our MUGs.

How many of you would like to learn how to use Visual Studio with Net Express?

How many of you would like to learn how to build a VB.Net application which calls COBOL subroutines?

How many of you would like to learn about using ADO.Net in COBOL?

How many of you would like to learn how to write Object Oriented COBOL?

What else interests you?

I'm not professing to be an expert at any of it, but I know one or two who might be free to help us out.



If I get enough interest maybe we can make these topics at your next MUG meeting.

Or maybe we setup our own "study group". Nothing like all night study sessions for that big test back in college huh?

Why not?

I'm game!

[Mark]

At the Microsoft Launch of Windows Server 2008 we showed COBOL dancing to three different tunes: We integrated Micro Focus Server for Mainframe Migration (CICS/IMS/JCL COBOL) with Micro Focus EnterpriseLink (Web enablement). We created 3 views of COBOL, what we called "Web 0.0" (COBOL character display in a Web browser), "Web 1.0" (COBOL as a traditional Web application) and "Web 2.0" (the same COBOL application in a mash-up with Microsoft PopFly ). The latter integrated Virtual Earth with COBOL in a RESTful, stateless Web Services way.

For more info: COBOL Mashup at Microsoft Windows Launch

[Fred Young]

Dear Mark:
It's great to see you on this forum.

So is there a nice package of documentation and sample code we can download to duplicate your Web 0.0, 1.0 and 2.0 using our own development environment? This would be excellent step in helping us implement these technologies.

What other cool stuff do you have in store for us?

[Fred Young]

Dear Robert:
Absolutely I would like to learn more about those topics. I'm sure most of the other MUG members would as well. The difficulty will be to get people to drive to a meeting. While I prefer in person presentations, what about doing this via a webinar?

Micro Focus has done an excellent job with this site. The next step is to get we members more/better info. Perhaps a series of webinars where we can ask questions. They can become archived so we can review them again if needed. Sample code could be put on the web so we can test the new idea in our development environment.

What do you think?

[Neal]

I'd be interested in all of the above. It's been over 10 years since I used MicroFocus COBOL and I'd especially be interested in Object-Oriented COBOL examples and the differences between MicroFocus and IBM Mainframe OO COBOL and the JCL needed for the mainframe.

[Robert]

Robert,

I would definitely be interested. I would like to learn more about .Net, a study group sounds like a great idea.

Bob Hilgart

[Michael]

Count me in if you need technical presentations..especially with Cobol.NET and Visual Studio 2008. I woul dbe glad to try to answer questions or present.
Thanks!

[Michael]

Robert,
I am interested in all the areas you mentioned:
How many of you would like to learn how to use Visual Studio with Net Express?

How many of you would like to learn how to build a VB.Net application which calls COBOL subroutines?

How many of you would like to learn about using ADO.Net in COBOL?

How many of you would like to learn how to write Object Oriented COBOL?

Any chance of getting these topics covered???

Thanks,

Michael

[Andres Mauricio]

I am interested in learning more and more. What if some of us studying to add more and more functions to COBOL, as support for PHP, Python, Eclipse, and more open source.

I want to learn more! Programming is my passion, the code of living!

[Robert]

Sounds like a general concensus. "Yes Please!" *grin*.
I think I can help with this.

When I get back from vacation (end of July), I'll begin putting some stuff out here for folks to work through and with.

If you are interested, you can follow my trip across the U.S. with my boys at http://summerwithmyboys.blogspot.com

Until then, keep the suggestions coming!

[Debby]

Hi, How about Server for SOA and Server Express web services?

Hope you enjoyed your trip.

[Robert]

Hey folks,

I was thinking about getting one of the Micro Focus techs to do a "Show and tell" session on SOA.

But before I do, does anyone want to take a stab at putting something together to show to the group?

If you do, I can setup the webcast for you, even provide the conference number for everyone to log in on, etc.

So, raise your hand if you are interested?

Raise your hand!