Email Us! askUs@juggerSoft.com


 

Abstract
The emergence of the Internet and the need to support on-line transactions have compelled companies to consider discarding legacy applications which have been developed over the course of many years.

At the same time, educational institutions turn out programmers who have learned the latest technologies and languages while ignoring the ever-growing need for legacy application maintenance or enhancement.

Consequently, companies increasingly find their own programming staffs become Balkanized into programmers with knowledge of the older, procedural-based languages (most popularly COBOL, PL/I, RPG) on the one hand and the newer Object Oriented (OO) languages and technologies (such as C++, Java, XML and VB) on the other. And as those older software engineers retire or move on, companies find it increasingly harder to find replacement programmers with similar skills.

Having identified the desirability of a heterogeneous set of programming skills in a newer language environment, thus allowing for a fuller exploitation of open systems and integration into the Web, it is tempting for companies to consider simply discarding existing applications and writing new solutions from scratch. Apart from the huge outlay of time and money, this approach loses all the accumulated value of the legacy software.

Mission critical applications are never "off-the-shelf". Custom modifications are always added, sometimes over years and at great expense, to handle specific accounting, inventory, ordering or shipping issues specific to an industry or firm. Tax and legal issues may also need to be specified by industry or geography. Recreating all of these features in a new program is like paying twice for the same product. And that assumes all features and modifications of a legacy system are known or documented and can, therefore, be mirrored within the new code.

Additionally, legacy software has the distinct advantage of having been used over time, and defects have been found and fixed. In short, the software is proven to operate in a mission-critical environment. Creation of any new complex application from scratch carries with it no guarantee of being free from defect, or of even working at all. (On average, today's professional coders make 100 to 150 errors in every 1,000 lines of code they write, according to a multiyear study headed by Watts S. Humphrey of Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute.)

For most companies with functional legacy software in need of modernization, the best solution can be found in the use of language conversion tools that translate legacy source code into newer languages. Such tools, when properly designed, allow companies to bridge the gap between the need to maintain and improve legacy code and the knowledge and skills of the software engineers a company can realistically employ.

Through the use of language conversion tools, future software maintenance and enhancement becomes easier and less costly. The modernized and re-engineered source code is usually more compact and structural, and the code is therefore easier for future programmers to understand and reuse.

Description

Our Source Translation Utility (STU) tools are designed to exactly replicate output generated from a program written in one language within another program written in another language. Often this requires massaging the standard output associated with a particular language through special formatting functions to replicate the data. Input and internally defined variables may also have to be massaged, as different languages support different variable types.

From a logic standpoint, however, the newly translated source version is functionally equivalent to the original source. In other words, a flowchart description of both source versions would contain identical execution sequences along all paths and cycles.

The CVTRPGFREE RPG to /FREE Format STU offers the following features:
  • Enables conversion of fixed-format AS/400 RPG IV code directly into the new /free format syntax available as of V5R2.
  • Makes your source code more readable and easier for future programmers to modify or enhance.
top

The COBOL/400 to Java STU and COBOL/400 to C/C++ STU offer the following features:
  • Enables legacy AS/400 COBOL code to be converted with little or no changes directly into 100% pure Java source or C/C++ source. This new source code can then be compiled and executed on any platform supporting a Java Virtual Machine.
  • Any JDBC/ODBC compliant database can be accessed using SQL, including Oracle, Sybase, DB2, MySQL.
  • Interfaces with IBM's Webfacing Tool to convert a program's original AS/400 display files into platform-independent HTML, JavaServer Pages (JSP) and JavaBeans while still continuing to support the DDS display source files. This allows migration to an entirely new platform or continued use of the new Java or C/C++ code on the AS/400 via either 5250 or Web-based interface...or both!
top

The RPG to Java STU and RPG to C/C++ STU offer the following features:
  • Enables legacy AS/400 RPG code to be converted with little or no changes directly into 100% pure Java or C/C++ source. This new source code can then be compiled and executed on any platform supporting a Java Virtual Machine.
  • Any JDBC/ODBC compliant database can be accessed using SQL, including Oracle, Sybase, DB2, MySQL.
  • Interfaces with IBM's Webfacing Tool to convert a program's original AS/400 display files into platform-independent HTML, JavaServer Pages (JSP) and JavaBeans while still continuing to support the DDS display source files. This allows migration to an entirely new platform or continued use of the new Java code on the AS/400 via either 5250 or Web-based interface...or both!
top

The COBOL/400 to RPGLE STU offers the following features:
  • Enables legacy AS/400 COBOL code to be converted with little or no changes directly into RPGLE source. This new source code can then be compiled and executed on your AS/400.
  • The RPGLE programs can continue to utilize existing display files and DB2 files without modifications.
  • Any JDBC/ODBC compliant database can be accessed using SQL, including Oracle, Sybase, DB2, MySQL.
  • Has the ability to interface with IBM's Webfacing Tool to convert a program's original AS/400 display files into HTML, JavaServer Pages (JSP) and JavaBeans while still continuing to support the DDS display source files. This allows continued use of your legacy programs on the AS/400 via either 5250 or Web-based interface...or both!
top

 

 


Home | Products | About Us | Partners | Contact | Order | Site Directory | Downloads | Samples
© Copyright 2006 Jugger Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. Send email to
askUs@juggerSoft.com