| Published | here |
|---|---|
| Compiler Release | gnucobol 3.2 |
A new compiler release, gnucobol 3.2, has been published. This release enables the broadcasting of COBOL programs to the SI language for subsequent compilation using GCC or other SI-compilers. The compiler is supported by 19 Cobol dialects and partially supports the COBOL 2014 specification. It successfully passes 9740 tests to ensure compatibility with Cobol 85. Additionally, an integrated debugger is included for debugging programs.
Cobol, one of the oldest actively used programming languages, is celebrating its 64th anniversary this year. It remains a leader in terms of the volume of written code. The language continues to evolve with the addition of object-oriented programming capabilities in the COBOL-2002 standard and support for calculations with floating commas IEEE-754, method overloading, and dynamically expanded tables in the COBOL 2014 standard. As of 2017, 43% of banking systems still relied on COBOL, which was used in about 80% of personal financial transactions and in 95% of terminals for receiving payments on bank cards. The total volume of COBOL code written is around 220 billion lines, with 100 billion lines still in use mainly in financial institutions.
The latest gnucobol 3.2 release includes several updates:
- Improved work with Cobol language dialects: The settings are adapted for more accurate correspondence to the selected dialect. Support for a new dialect – GCOS – has been added. Expressions, functions, and syntax elements specific to various old and new dialects of the language have been implemented.
- Significant improvement in runtime and reduced memory consumption, particularly when including checks during execution.
- Addition of support for the “Line Sequental” file