Enhancements and extensions to its Cobol applications development and maintenance tools have been introduced by Applied Data Research Inc, Princeton, New Jersey. Performance and functionality are enhanced in the new release 10.0 of its MetaCobol batch Cobol preprocessor, which includes full support for the IBM VS Cobol II implementation of ANSI ’85 Cobol. ADR reckons that the new version reduces execution times by 50% by means of more effective macro processing within Metacobol as well as improved virtual storage usage and addressing techniques. Internal tables now have a capacity of 16Mb, simplifying macro procedures. Support for VS Cobol II includes recognition and expansion of nested copy procedures and all syntax forms unique to the IBM implementation, including new language elements, extended data item sizes and new keywords. Permanent licences range from $9,700 under DOS/VSE to $12,200 for MVS, and the MVS/XA version is an additional $600. The company also has a new release, 3.1, of its ADR/DL interactive Cobol application development and maintenance system, designed to ease the development of structured Cobol and provide enhanced high-level data manipulation language support for ADR’s Datacom/DB databases. Precompile times can be improved 30% to 80% by use of the company’s Datadictionary facilities. One-time licences cost $23,500 for DOS/VSE, $28,600 for MVS and $31,500 for MVS/XA, and lease facilities are also available.
