cobolizer - plain concepts - microsoft we alm partner summit 2011

COBOLizer:Bringing COBOL to the 21st century with Visual

Studio ALM

Jose Luis Soriajlsoria@plainconcepts.com

Rodrigo Corralrcorral@plainconcepts.com

• Architecture, ALM, UX, Debugging & Optimization, Web & Sharepoint, Development, Game Studio

• Offices at Madrid and Bilbao (Spain), and Seattle (USA)

• 2009 & 2010 Microsoft WE Inner Circle ALM Partner award

• European company with highest number of Microsoft MVPs (8)

ABOUT PLAIN CONCEPTS

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT COBOL?

220+ billion LOC all over the world

80% of actively used code is written in COBOL

Each day, there are 200 times as many COBOL transactions as Google searches

62% of companies still use COBOL, even for new applications

Sources:COBOL, still doing the business (bankingtech.com)

COBOL coders: going, going, gone? (computerworld.com)

The environment is pretty old, and tools are not an exception…

HOW IS THE TYPICAL COBOL PROJECT?

Hundreds of thousands of COBOL developers are using tools and editors designed forty

years ago

A lot of effort is wasted in COBOL development because cutting edge tools are

not available

Many COBOL projects are not even using source control

…there is a lot of room for ALM tools in the COBOL world!

• VS ALM & TFS already support .NET and Java projects, but not COBOL natively in the Host – even though it’s the third big player in software factories and in house development

• Supporting COBOL through Visual Studio Extensibility, enables other useful scenarios:– DSL Tools, wizards and guidance– Code analysis

WHY CONSIDER VS ALM & TFS FOR COBOL?

• COBOLizer is a set of extensions for Visual Studio, including:– A set of new tool windows inside VS– A set of Host clients integrated in VS (FTP, TNxxxx,

SSH…)– A VS project type, which groups the files related to a

project– A language service, providing modern code editing

features for COBOL inside Visual Studio

WHAT IS COBOLizer?

• It’s not a COBOL compiler or interpreter• It’s not a COBOL implementation for the .NET

platform

WHAT COBOLizer IS NOT?

The code is still compiled and run natively on the Host!

ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COBOLizer DEVELOPER

WORKING WITH COBOLizer

• The work is supported by a local COBOL project, containing files from the host, or created from VS templates

• COBOL code is edited within the Visual Studio IDE, with syntax highlighting & checking, Intellisense…

• The code is deployed to the Host to be built and run• Full TFS support for ALM: version control, work item

association, etc.

• Conflict detection and resolution between host and local files

• Host console window integrated in VS

• Syntax highlighting• Syntax checking (with

squiggles) • Support for commenting code• Code outlining• Intellisense for word

completion• Intellisense for quick info • Source code analysis (beta)

• Complete integration with TFS and Work Items

• Project creation wizard• Add new object to project • Add existing object to project

from host • Add existing object to project

from file system • Project deployment• Multiple deployment

configurations for a project• Solution explorer integration• Add project to source control• Update source from host

OVERVIEW OF COBOLizer FEATURES

DEMO: OVERVIEW OF COBOLizer FEATURES

• IBM Rational Developer for z/Series– Full featured: local debugging, debugging, code

editing…– Needs software to be installed in the host– Really expensive

• COBOL-IT– It’s a compiler and an IDE– It lacks support for ALM

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

• Nothing needs to be installed on the Host - developers can work on the customer's environment, without altering it

• Great for software factories and organizations doing in-house development

• Real business case in Spain: one of the ten biggest System Integrator/Software Factory is using COBOLizer for in-house development, at one of the greatest spanish energy companies

WHERE IS COBOLizer REALLY USEFUL?

• COBOLizer pricing– COBOLizer license fee is $495 per seat– An annual maintenance fee of 15% is mandatory and

not included in COBOLizer’s license fee• Partnering opportunity - licenses– Reselling partners get a 20% discount per each license– We’re open to other collaboration models – just ask

PARTNERING OPPORTUNITY!

• Partnering opportunity – services– By introducing ALM in COBOL projects with COBOLizer,

customer gets up to 28% of improvement in developers’ productivity (*)

– Selling COBOLizer, partners can reach COBOL customers that were inaccesible until now, and offer them the complete, Visual Studio ALM based, suit of services

(*) More details and data available upon request

PARTNERING OPPORTUNITY!

• Questions?

• If interested:

rcorral@plainconcepts.com

www.cobolizer.com

@cobolizer

… or simply reach us anytime during the event! (dedicated table at lunch time both days)

THANK YOU!

Images credit: http://bit.ly/qYqzB9 http://bit.ly/nTb534 http://bit.ly/or8M3i