cobolizer - plain concepts - microsoft we alm partner summit 2011
DESCRIPTION
This is the presentation that I made for Microsoft WE ALM partner summit about COBOLizer, the new product by Plain Concepts that enables ALM and working with Visual Studio for native COBOLTRANSCRIPT
COBOLizer:Bringing COBOL to the 21st century with Visual
Studio ALM
Jose Luis [email protected]
Rodrigo [email protected]
• 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:
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