Fujitsu NetCobol Bridges Two Web Frameworks

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(08/23/02, 01:21:57 AM EDT)

San Jose, Ca. --- Looking to bridge the gap between the opposing Linux/Eclipse/Java and Microsoft .NET web services frameworks, Fujitsu Software Corp. has developed versions of its NetCobol line of languages and compilers that work in either environment.

The open source Linux version of NetCobol also is configured to use the open source Java-based Eclipse integrated development environment for servers, iappliances and net-centric connected embedded systems.

Fujitsu is a long time promoter and supporter of Cobol (Coommon Business Oriented Language), introduced on mainframes in the 1960s but still in wide use in major corporations worldwide.

The Linux release includes support for the COBOL 85 standard, object oriented COBOL extensions, embedded SQL, data file maintenance tools, and NetCOBOL's API for creating CGI Internet applications.

The Eclipse-based NetCOBOL for Linux was tested and developed on the Intel x86 distribution of Red Hat Linux. It is priced $1800.

In the Microsoft .NET version of NetCobol, support has been added for rapid system development using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. It includes support for the ASP.NET Web Forms designer, Windows Forms designer, and Web References (web service client proxy generation)

NetCOBOL for .NET Version 1a, allows companies to migrate legacy software based on Cobol into the .NET environment, allowing them to recompile their COBOL85 programs into the Microsoft .NET Framework.

NetCOBOL for .NET includes a compiler for the Microsoft .NET Framework common language runtime engine, support for ASP.Net and XML Web services, and integration with the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment.This latest version of NetCOBOL for .NET is available immediately.

For more details about both versions of NetCOBOL, go to www.netcobol.com.