On 9 Jan 2009 12:13:51 -0800, in bit.listserv.ibm-main you wrote: >On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 19:50:07 +0000, Ted MacNEIL <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>BTW - I prefer solid examples for current need, not histrionics. >> >>Call it histrionics if you like. >>But, just because we don't need it today, doesn't mean we won't need it >tomorrow. >>This field already suffers from short-sightedness. >>Please don't add more. >> >>My point was think ahead. >>Don't get stuck because you can't think of a need, today. >> >>When XA came out, nobody could understand the need for 2GB. >>Think DB2. >>Where do you think the buffers and special pools are in V8+. >> >>Don't be the mud for the stick! > >OK - how much money, in the form of licensing cost, are you willing to pay >to get 64 bit addressing in COBOL? If you can get people to tell IBM >something like: "We are willing to pay $200 a month extra plus $2000 extra >one time for a compiler which can create AMODE(64) programs.", then you're >likely to get IBM's attention. But if people say: "We want AMODE(64) COBOL >but at the current cost of AMODE(31) COBOL", then IBM is likely to not pay >much attention. TANSTAAFL. > >Also, somebody needs to prioritize AMODE(64) COBOL versus other desired >enhancements. There is only so much money and so many qualified developers. > >For example. COBOL now uses System XML for XML processing. Should IBM have >forgone that (with the associated benefit of XML processing in COBOL now >being able to run on a zAAP) for 64 bit addressing? > >If I implied that 64 bit addressing in COBOL is a unwanted / unneeded >enhancement, I gave the wrong impression and I hope that I have corrected >it. I just wonder about the relative importance of 64 bit addressing versus >other COBOL enhancements.
If COBOL is still considered strategic and going forward rather than something to be maintained until you can migrate to the brave new world of Java, C#, New Vision, etc., then 64 bit is needed to support IBM strategy. COBOL is supposed to communicate with Java and COBOL routines are supposed to be usable in Websphere applications. Guess what? Both of those environments can be either 31 bit or 64 bit. Someone else pointed out that things can get tight in a heavily used CICS region and that the 2 gig limit can impact the number of concurrent transactions. If COBOL is other than a cash cow, then serious upgrading is needed. The fact that there is an interface routine to enable floating point to be passed between COBOL and Java so that hex floating point can be converted to IEEE and vice versa still enrages me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
