Clark Morris writes: >Why does COBOL need XML handling? Because many customers wanted it and filed excellent requirements details with IBM, through SHARE and other avenues. (Which now means we've come full circle, again, in this discussion thread. :-))
Question back to you: why does COBOL need AMODE 64? No, don't answer here. :-) And there are better questions anyway (not to answer here either) like: Would AMODE 64 COBOL still be useful to you if it could not call 31-bit, and vice versa? How useful? (More or less useful than X, Y, and Z proposed enhancements?) If it could not call 31-bit, would you "instantly" recompile "all" your code to 64-bit?? Going forward, would you expect new language features to be available in both 31-bit and 64-bit, or is only 64-bit acceptable? (Answer carefully. Think about 24-bit as you answer. :-)) Would it be OK if you had to change your code (perhaps with the aid of a conversion tool) before recompiling it in 64-bit? How much change? How critical is it that recompiled code behave exactly the same way (at runtime) as previously compiled code? What are your performance expectations for 64-bit compiled code? How much CPU increase, if any, is acceptable? (Bear in mind that 64-bit code, ceteris paribus, will consume a little more CPU. So if the expectation is equality or better, that means additional effort is likely needed in compiler optimization. Knocking something else out of the queue, perhaps.) What business problems are you unable to solve (or soon expect to be unable to solve) without AMODE 64 COBOL?? What sort of time horizons do you have for these questions? Any financial issues (threats? :-)) that IBM should know about that might be relevant? And so on. But the list of SHARE requirements previously posted capture these sorts of questions pretty well, don't they? So the answer is still the same as before, isn't it? :-) Which is, tell IBM what you want (and in what priority) so that IBM can do the best and right thing(s). SHARE is a really good vehicle to do that. Speaking only for myself. - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan / Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
