At Unix Expo last week, Micro Focus Plc announced its latest Object Cobol developer environment for its Unix user base. Object Cobol Developer Suite v4.1 for Unix, an integrated client/server programming environment for both procedural and Object Cobol developers, gives Cobol access to Corba version 2-compliant Object Request Brokers and Cobol to CGI Common Gateway Interface access. Micro Focus has provided a ready-made connection to ICL’s DIAS object request broker. CGI code can be executed using standard Cobol syntax, allowing Cobol business logic to be extended onto the corporate intranet or the Internet. The new suite allows access to indexed files greater than 2Gb, which previously required application changes to be made. There are four elements to the suite: the Object Cobol Compiler v4.1; the integrated development environment suite of Unix tools; the user interface design and development environment; and the Application Server, a set of common APIs and utilities for client/ server application distribution. The Suite is priced at $2,350 per user and runs initially on SCO OpenServer v5.0 and IBM’s AIX v4.1, from mid-November, though an HP/UX version should follow. The company’s Visual Object Cobol tool is already out for Windows 95 and NT platforms. Cobol 97, ANSI/ISO’s fourth edition of the Cobol standard which includes object-oriented features is, of course, still evolving, but that hasn’t stopped Micro Focus – along with competitors such as Hitachi America and IBM – from updating their tools to support objects and the Internet. Micro Focus says it is now developing technology that will allow Cobol to interoperate with Java.
