Migrating from COBOL to Modern RPG: A Guide
COBOL and RPG, both created decades ago, have long been pillars of the enterprise.
Over the years, the two software languages have taken different paths in their growth. RPG integrates features that are friendlier to newer programming paradigms and is easier to integrate with modern applications. As a result, many businesses managing COBOL systems move them over to RPG.
Migrating from COBOL to modern RPG is a significant undertaking but one that offers numerous benefits, from improved performance to better integration capabilities
In this article, we'll examine the intricacies of these languages, the reasons organizations are migrating from COBOL to modern RPG, and how tools like CM evolveIT can streamline this complex process.
A Brief History of COBOL and RPG?
COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was developed in 1959, primarily for business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. It was designed to be readable by non-programmers and has been a trusted language for many decades, particularly in mainframe environments.?
RPG (Report Program Generator) was also born in 1959, created by IBM. Initially designed for report generation, RPG evolved significantly over the years. The modern RPG, often referred to as RPG IV or ILE RPG, supports contemporary programming paradigms and integrates well into modern IT environments.?
Differences Between COBOL and Modern RPG?
Why Organizations Consider Migrating from COBOL to Modern RPG
Advantages of Modern RPG Over COBOL?
Steps to Follow in Migrating from COBOL to Modern RPG
A COBOL to RPG migration project can be successful with the right steps. These are the steps we recommend in order:
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Challenges or Potential Risks Migrating to Modern RPG
If you follow the previous steps, your project should be relatively smooth sailing. Like any other migration project, there are potential gotchas. These are the potential risks to look out for as you plan your project:
Best Practices for a Successful Migration Process?
How CM evolveIT Can Assist in the Process?
CM evolveIT offers a suite of tools designed to facilitate the migration from COBOL to modern RPG. It provides automated code analysis, conversion, and optimization features that can significantly reduce the time and effort required for migration. By leveraging the power of CM evolveIT, you can ensure a smooth, efficient, and successful transition to modern RPG.?
Final Thoughts
Migrating from COBOL to modern RPG is a significant undertaking but one that offers numerous benefits, from improved performance to better integration capabilities. By following best practices and utilizing tools like CM evolveIT, you can navigate the complexities of migration and position yourself and your organization for future success.
How CM First Group Can Help
Our comprehensive suite of tools and services is designed to accelerate modernization while reducing costs and risks—an easy sell to stakeholders who might be fearful of the costs and risks of legacy modernization.
Our flagship product CM evolveIT supports various migration strategies, including cloud-based solutions, containerization, and DevOps practices, to ensure that the migrated components align with your organization's business objectives.
We also have a team of skilled engineers who can implement your modernization project or provide assistance. With their help, you can achieve your modernization goals more quickly and with fewer disruptions to business operations.
Contact CM First today to learn more.
Desarrollador S/3x AS/400 iSeries Mainframe OS/390 z/OS
7 个月Migrating or rather redesigning systems developed in COBOL to modern RPG for AS/400 or iSeries environments can be a successful reality. Although in the iSeries environment, with COBOL ILE, it also supports modular programming, and data handling in DB2. Briefly in the iSeries world, although it is not an easy task, the challenge is possible.Now in Mainframe environments, everything changes. Since the amount of active code in the world is claimed to be 65%, and IBM says that there are 800,000 million lines of code. In addition, the CICS is the largest and most efficient transactional environment on the planet. So migrating this to any other environment is something like "mission impossible", both in the labor effort and in the economic costs. Hence the interest of IBM and companies, to train and encourage future developers in the COBOL world.
IBMi Specialist (AS400, iSeries) | Lead Developer, Trainer
7 个月Sounds like sailing against the wind; a journey back to familiar shores, but away from the promise of new horizons
Helping modernize enterprise companies running IBM i
7 个月Everyone needs to get off of RPG’s back. ?? What has carried the success of many businesses over the decades? The as400,iseries,and IBM i…. Along with its native languages. If you are going to stay on this loyal system DO move to RPG. Yes there have been other platform Languages that have come along that do things differently… I honestly wouldn’t say they do them better when compared to the IBM i and it’s business oriented native languages. A good blend of integration could be considered key. Or as Dan Lovell mentioned, if staying on the IBM i, a powerful recipe is DB2 and SQL PL.
Technologist and CEO, Quantrax Corporation Inc.
7 个月If not Modern RPG, what would you migrate a COBOL system to? Let's not call it "migrate", because it is a much larger undertaking. You have to consider a rewrite. I have worked with RPG and "PC code" for a long time. It can take 3 days of PC code to do what I can do with RPG code in 3 hours. And the RPG code we wrote 30 years ago works and does not need to be tested every time Microsoft or Google makes a change! Should we at least consider the IBM i? IBM has done a poor job educating the public about its virtues, but it has to be something special to produce extraordinary results after so many years. And RPG is a part of it, but this is not your father's RPG!
AS400 computer support analyst for CABELAS/BASSPRO (catchup work)
7 个月Good infoguys. I stick with the Iseries AS400 because of the PASE environment added to OS400 & what I think John is trying to say is Ibm has made great effort to integrate the entire linux /Unix world meaning all the operating system and commands from UNIX/Linux interphase into AS400 among other environments & tools for parsing JSON and Xml and has made entire C++ library avail. and its powerful open functions to the Rpg world, BY allowing the RPG community to use sub procedures and prototypes which give us access to invoke all C++ functions and Java classes and methods available to us and callable and we can invoke them right from Rpg and compiler and even PHP.. for web-not to mention the IFS, environment which has been a wonderful addition Giving us access to six different file systems, including the windows and NTF. And given access TO UNIX & linux ascii stream files used in java program FILES AND TO ascii text files not to mention JPEG and GIF files on CD and DVD & FULL ACCESS to pdf as well.. so there's no file system that AS400 cannot process and so basically AS400 can talk to any server out there. We have ACCESS TO DB2 FILE SYSTEM also & sorry but Ibm didnt put the same technology to ZOS mainframe. And this shortlist