To aid in analyzing mainframe COBOL programs a new z390 COBOL Portable Assembler option has been added in z390 PTF v1.4.01b. With this option installed, you can convert Enterprise COBOL or COBOL for OS/390 generated assembler listings into z390 assembler source programs which can be assembled, linked, and executed specifying starting and ending line numbers in order to unit test or benchmark specific generated code or supported COBOL statements with called functions. In this initial release only DISPLAY and STOP RUN function calls are supported, but requests for additional functions are welcome. Support for COBOL/370, COBOL for MVS, and VS COBOL II are also in development. For example generation and execution of DISPLAY and STOP RUN demo, install z390 v1.4.01, v1.4.01b PTF, and then enter the command cobol\paos\OSDEMO1. For additional information on this new option visit:
http://z390.sourceforge.net/z390_COBOLSupport.htm
Suggestions on how to make this new option more useful for unit testing and benchmarking COBOL code running on Windows or Linux are welcome. Sample COBOL generated assembler listings along with requests for additional function call support are also welcome.
Don Higgins
don@higgins.net
