We have some systems in Micro Focus Cobol.Net which we are considering converting to C#.
We have tried opening up the dll's in reflector, but then we just get C code.
Anyone have a recommendation of how to do this?
When I select C# in reflector I get code that looks like this:
meminit(&(this._MF_OSBLOCK[0]), 0x20, 4);
this._MF_OSBLOCK[4] = 0x30;
this._MF_OSBLOCK[5] = 0x30;
this._MF_OSBLOCK[6] = 0x30;
this._MF_OSBLOCK[7] = 0x30;
meminit(&(this._MF_OSBLOCK[8]), 0x20, 30);
memcpy(&(this._MF_OSBLOCK[0x26]), &(_MF_LITBLOCK[0]), 2);
int num2 = 0;
do
{
memcpy(&(this._MF_OSBLOCK[40 + num2]), &(_MF_LITBLOCK[0]), 2);
}
while ((num2 += 2) < 0xc6);
memcpy(&(this._MF_OSBLOCK[240]), &(_MF_LITBLOCK[2]), 4);
You can safely assume you are looking at C# code, Reflector doesn't have a code converter for C. What you can't assume is that the Cobol compiler is generating sane C# code. It has no obligation in doing so. It can freely use helper functions that are defined in a runtime assembly that's specific to the compiler. Not unlike Microsoft.CSharp.dll.
Getting code that uses helpers with C-like names is not unexpected, C has been the run-anywhere language for a very long time. Compilers not infrequently were language translators, going from Cobol to C in this case and then using a C compiler to generate the platform specific machine code. Write once, run anywhere. Think of C as the IL of the olden days.
You can surely compile and run the generated C# code, be sure to use that Cobol specific assembly reference. You may have to dig it out of the GAC. As far as a running start to get decent C# code, hardly. The differences between the languages are too great.