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programming-languagesportingcobol

Which language would you port COBOL programs to and why?

When selecting a language to port COBOL programs from what language would you chose and why? I am not looking for the answer "because I am familiar with language X".

I am looking for features in a language that map well to COBOL's design.

Update: The programs would run the gammit to utilities, data processing, screens, etc.

Solution

  • I would port them to ... um ... COBOL. Yes, that's it. COBOL.

    Sorry, couldn't resist.

    Seriously, there are COBOL compilers for current platforms out there and, unless we know a little more about why the code has to be ported, we may not be able to help.

    Is the platform on which it runs obsolete? Is management just pushing for a more 'modern' solution? Are you having to move stuff from System z to Windows (ugh!)?

    COBOL (in its purest form, not that OO-COBOL rubbish) is mostly a simple procedural language (ReportWriter notwithstanding) so will translate to any of the other procedural languges fairly well:

    • C.
    • C++ without classes
    • Java, although you can't avoid classes unless you have one big honkin' singleton.
    • Pascal (swapping one 'dead' language for another).
    • even Python, Perl et al can be made to work.