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Traditional COBOL Program portion<\/p><\/div>\n
Even better, there is a popular open-source COBOL compiler that not only supports the latest and greatest variants of the language, but is documented nine ways to Sunday, GnuCOBOL<\/a>.\u00a0 I quickly downloaded it, both on a Mac and on my Linux server (because both platforms are supported).\u00a0 The Linux version required a little wrangling to get it operational, but the Mac version was a piece of cake.\u00a0 Mind you, this is only the compiler<\/em>.\u00a0 Programmers write code in text editors or integrated development environments (IDE) and then compile them into executable code.\u00a0 I have editors, but I also found several IDEs because they can make the task of writing and compiling code a little easier.\u00a0 VScodium<\/a> is one such, and OpenCobolIDE 4 is another.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the OpenCobol product is no longer being developed or supported.<\/p>\n For the technology-inclined, and something I found quite impressive, is that GnuCOBOL actually create C code that is then compiled into machine code.\u00a0 I like this, because the resulting executable code is not “bloated,” which has always been the complaint about COBOL since its inception.<\/p>\n I’ve now spent a couple of weeks re-learning COBOL, and finding out how it has evolved over the past 40 years.\u00a0 Many of the features have been enriched, such as using END- declaratives (e.g., END-IF, END-PERFORM, etc.).\u00a0 The format of the source code has been loosened, and a “free format’ structure is supported, meaning column restrictions have been removed, and commenting code now include inline comments.\u00a0 Nice!<\/p>\n But it doesn’t stop there.\u00a0 During a conversation with a former co-worker, I mentioned that I’d created a program for in-house use at my employer about 30 years ago using a quirky English product called Omnis 7 from a company called Blyth Software.\u00a0 Curious, I went looking for it and found that the program is still actively developed and sold, now as Omnis Studio<\/a>, and the company is now Omnis Software.\u00a0 I referred to it as “quirky” because internally, some of the language used in the product was distinctly “British,” and took some adjusting to. Happily, I found that Omnis offers a free “Community Edition” for developers and limited deployments There is also an embarrassing wealth of resources available to the developer.\u00a0 Naturally, I downloaded the product, and in an unusual (for the Mac) move, found I needed to add some tutorial files to the “hidden” Application Support folder on the Mac (this is less uncommon under Windows, and this is a cross-platform product).\u00a0 This is where my limited mindset sabotaged me:\u00a0 Where to start?<\/p>\n To its credit, Omnis offers pretty much everything except their source code.\u00a0 The documentation is all online.\u00a0 There are YouTube videos.\u00a0 Webinars are offered. There is “Omnis Academy” that offers other self-structured lessons.\u00a0 As I said, where do I start?<\/p>\n The answer came, in a manner of speaking, from Omnis itself.\u00a0 In order to use the community edition, one still needs a license to activate the software, so my email was required, and naturally, I received an email from an account manager following up.<\/p>\n Here’s where it gets weird.\u00a0 Or, maybe I should say, “quirky.”\u00a0 One of the resources offered is a developers online forum.\u00a0 I’ve joined a number of such communities, and found them to be\u00a0 invaluable in helping get answers to questions that may not be covered in the documentation or the training.\u00a0 So I went to sign up.\u00a0 That’s when I was surprised that after submitting my online application for membership, I was greeted with a screen informing me that I’d been blacklisted.\u00a0 Excuse me?\u00a0 What?\u00a0 Trying multiple computers, multiple browsers and multiple email accounts made no difference.<\/p>\n But I do have to tip my hat to Omnis, because I registered for a webinar and found I was the only attendee.\u00a0 Thus, I was able to spend 90 minutes with a system engineer\/support tech going over the fundamentals of the program.\u00a0 But neither he nor the account manager were able to resolve the issue of my inability to register for the forum.\u00a0 I’m probably being a bit too harsh on Omnis, as the people there I’ve worked with have been eager to help, just not able to fix that one issue.\u00a0 And they know that I’m not a paid developer working to complete a project.\u00a0 I am simply a tech-curious retiree trying to keep increasing my knowledge.\u00a0 In fact, until I started down this path, first with COBOL and now with Omnis, I had no real purpose in mind.\u00a0 But now I do.<\/p>\n Going back to near the beginning, as I was writing COBOL under contract for the federal government, I was tapped to be on a special project using a then-popular program, dBASE III+, published by the Ashton-Tate company (an interesting side note is that in the early 1980s, the ‘Big Three’ in the nascent software industry were Lotus, WordPerfect and Ashton-Tate; names that are all but forgotten today). dBASE was among the first database management systems (DBMS) for the PC.\u00a0 It ran under DOS and had many cool features.\u00a0 I note that dBASE still exists today, but as a mere shadow of itself.\u00a0 And is not cross-platform, so as a Mac user, it’s not even under consideration.\u00a0 After I became expert in dBASE, I took my knowledge and built an entire office football pool system with it.\u00a0 It even included a “splash” screen!\u00a0 I briefly toyed with the idea of turning it into a shareware program, but even compiled dBASE code could be reverse-engineered, and I wasn’t sure if it would have any acceptance worth my time to support.<\/p>\n The source code for my “shareware” program is long gone.\u00a0 Those were the days of 5-1\/4″ floppy disks, so even if I have a copy stored around someplace, I have no way of restoring it.\u00a0 So, to keep me occupied, I’m thinking of rebuilding it from scratch.\u00a0 Using Omnis.\u00a0 I think the program is great (it’s lasted longer than the “big three,” after all).\u00a0 But it seems there are some loose ends internally within the company.\u00a0 Which isn’t the best way to inspire confidence.<\/p>\n Still, it’s only if I get the program developed and choose to market it, will they make money from me.\u00a0 So, it’s understandable if they don’t bend over backward for me.\u00a0 They have a right to not have confidence in me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have become interested in writing software again.\u00a0 I guess that’s what retirement does for you. Having spent 40+ years in the computer field, and having worked in a variety of disciplines, I started to research computer-related programs, projects and … Continue reading ![](\"https:\/\/www.omnis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/omnis-Logo.png\"){kind=logo}
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