Metrixware announces Cobos 3.4 availability

The Cobos 3.4 IDE now modernizes both the Mainframe and Unix COBOL software factories

Nanterre, August 2014. Metrixware is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Cobos 3.4, its advanced COBOL development workbench for Eclipse.

Cobos 3.4 is now used professionally in several countries worldwide for both Mainframe and Unix COBOL developments, coupled with COBOL IBM, COBOL Microfocus and COBOL-IT compilers.

Cobos is available for a 30-day free evaluation here

Keywords: Productivity improvement – Cost-competitive solution – Best practices auto-check by developers – OpenSource components – Mainframe and Unix servers.

 

Keep enjoy COBOL development everywhere thanks to Cobos!

For the last 40 years, Cobol applications have been developed and widely used in banks, insurances and many other big industries. Today, those strong and powerful applications are still massively used worldwide, requiring both maintenance and new developments in COBOL. However, the development process seems now out-of-date, not attractive, complex and cost expensive…

… and a new generation of COBOL developers is coming! We are proud to announce at this occasion, that some professional COBOL teaching centres are now using Cobos as a COBOL learning facilitator. If you want to join the move as a teaching centre, please do contact us using our website form.

Cobos simplifies the question of change management

The original choice of Metrixware to include its users in the R&D process since the early developments of Cobos keeps playing an important role. It eases to manage the change and reduces the IDE learning curve for both new COBOL developers and expert COBOL developers.

The result is a five-star product, easy to learn and use thanks to an intuitive and optimized interface!

It generally requires less than one day for a COBOL developer to move to Cobos from TSO/ISPF or from a VI editor or Unix shell. Cobos includes thus functionalities such as a revision mode, mainframe-like CAPS ON, customizable tabulations, COBOL sources unfolding with COPY REPLACING, direct opening of a COPY using F3 etc.

Cobos 3.4, for both Unix and Mainframe environments.

The number of Unix COBOL applications is increasing years after years, and for more than one year, Cobos engineers have focused some of their efforts in the adaptation of the features developed for the mainframe users, to Unix environments. The result is a great success.

Local check-syntax, remote compilation, centralized preferences are now available to unix users.

Checking code syntax locally is a major stake for companies, since it avoids many interactions with the Unix server and reduces thus the server load, and for developers by helping deliver bug-free applications.

Cobos local check-syntax now supports the Microfocus dialect, enabling for example the auto-completion of the variables declared in the SCREEN SECTION.

Then Cobos 3.4 now allows the Unix developers to commit their code to the SCM software and to launch the remote compilation on Unix from Cobos. The compilation messages are then available directly in the Cobos interface as for the Cobos mainframe users.

Several other features have been successfully adapted, such as the automatic download of Cobos preferences from the Unix server…

Easy integration with any SCM software

Cobos users know that Metrixware policy is to ease the integration between Cobos and the other software used in COBOL factories (debuggers, quality plugins etc.). Thanks to our customers, we now have a great feedback about using successfully Cobos coupled with IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) and with SCLM, in addition to LCM, CA Endevor, Serena Dimension, CVS and SVN.

Extend Cobos with the Cobos Best Practices plugin and improve your code quality before integration!

In order to reduce your maintenance costs, it is vital to have COBOL programs that are homogeneous, well structured, and that comply with the norms and best practices of your companies.

With Cobos Best Practices, a plugin available for every Eclipse-based COBOL IDE, including IBM RDz and Microfocus Visual COBOL, the COBOL developers can check the quality of their COBOL code during the development – as for every quality related question, the earlier, the better… and the less expensive!

Cobos Best Practices makes available about 150 rules (COBOL, CICS, DB2 etc.), that you can parameters to your needs and to your applications, but you are free to add your own rules thanks to extension points. This feature even supports quality rules that are developed in COBOL.

Download Cobos for a 30-day free evaluation and share with us your specific requests regarding your environment of use HERE

Some words from Mrs Julie Dumortier, Metrixware CEO:

“I am very proud to say that an international insurance company has just successfully deployed Cobos 3.4 to its 120 developers as the COBOL IDE while running a COBOL Microfocus compiler on Unix. It confirms that Cobos matches now the expectations of both Mainframe and Unix COBOL users.”

Key facts about Cobos 3.4

Environments	Mainframe z, Unix, AS400/iSeries
Supported remote compilers	COBOL IBM, COBOL Microfocus, COBOL-IT, OpenCOBOL
Required training for COBOL developers	Only 1 day!
Extendibility and additional features	Full with Eclipse plugins… and we are experts in developing such plugins.
Communication Protocols	SSH, Telnet or FTP.
3270 Emulator	Embedded in Cobos, SSL/TLS secured

About METRIXWARE

Metrixware is not only an agile software editor but also an effective software solutions provider for legacy and open environments.

 

Our solutions include:

Cobos	Scort Mainframe Integrator	Komea
The modern COBOL Mainframe/Unix software factory	The J2EE middleware solution allowing a responsive access to your mainframe applications	The KPI-based solution for the smart management of your software Forge

 

Thanks to our understanding of your business (Bank/Insurance, Distribution, Energy etc.), we provide you with the right solutions at a controlled cost and a reduced time-to-market.

Our professional software solutions can be customized to your needs, and some of them are built on open-source components. Metrixware has a unique R&D team that merges skills in Mainframe, Unix, COBOL, J2EE, HTML5/CSS3, Bootstrap and other JS frameworks, e-signature, e-archiving and Eclipse plugin development.

Related to the modernization of your Mainframe factory, Metrixware brings you, with Cobos, the most advanced Eclipse COBOL IDE, providing a strong integration with different types of Mainframe and Unix environments. Cobos is the core component of a powerful, economic and efficient COBOL software factory, based on open-source components.