What impact does isCOBOL Evolve have on developers? [-]isCOBOL Evolve preserves COBOL assets and does not require staff to be retrained in a different programming language. COBOL developers continue to use the IDE or editor of their choice, as well as desired command line utilities and scripts for source code control and builds, thus isCOBOL technology should have no impact on development.
isCOBOL developers leverage current COBOL skills and can deploy applications on the Java platform without needing to know how to program in the Java language. isCOBOL programs are indistinguishable from programs written in the Java language because the isCOBOL Compiler converts COBOL source code to Java source code behind-the-scenes. If it makes business sense, developers can transition from COBOL programming to Java programming over time. isCOBOL APS gives you the ability to keep your COBOL assets even if you choose Java as your programming language at some time in the future.
For deployment, a few commonly known Java platform items primarily around configuration, such as CLASSPATH, JDK, JRE and the Java executable names will need to be known:
- CLASSPATH is an environmental variable which tells the JVM where to find the class libraries, including user-defined class libraries.
- The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a software development environment for writing applets and applications in the Java programming language and contains the Java compiler.
- The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is a subset of the JDK. It is for end-users and developers who want to redistribute the runtime environment alone. The Java runtime environment consists of the Java virtual machine, the Java core classes and supporting files and has everything needed to run Java programs.
If you choose to further extend isCOBOL applications with Java technology, the path is made easier with isCOBOL. Since isCOBOL Evolve preserves current COBOL programs, the transition to Java can be done at your desired pace.
Given the numerous tools and options available in Java, developer productivity may be enhanced by moving to isCOBOL as well. For instance, the Java platform offers a range of options when it comes to areas such as logging, tracking, debugging, monitoring statistics and resource allocation, as well as profiling to help identify areas for application performance tuning.
Note: the terms above, and other common Java terms are defined online at http://Java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/information/glossary.html