Tom Ross wrote:
XML features of COBOL have been the most quickly adopted new features of COBOL in my 25 years of IBM COBOL development. We shipped AMODE 31 in 1984, Intrinsic Functions in 1991, OO in 1995, but many users are still running below the line, don't use built-in functions, never tried OO, and are not even using EVALUATE or END-IF. On the other hand, just a few weeks after we shipped XML PARSE support (yes, XML parsing done directly by the COBOL object program) we had customers telling us "This is great, when can I do a validating parse against a DTD?". The month after we shipped XML GENERATE, we had similar requests for more function. There are thousands of z/OS COBOL programs producing and processing XML documents today! We can't keep up with demand.
I too was surprised to hear the "Why XML for COBOL" question. I'm glad your support has been so well accepted. XML adoption is important to the future of our platform.
On the other hand, we know that we need to do AMODE 64 COBOL someday, but not one customer has asked IBM COBOL development to do it yet.
I find that difficult to believe. Perhaps the validity of your assertion depends on one's definition of the word "asked".
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