The COBOL parser conforms to the following standards and dialects:
- ANSI COBOL 74 (ANSI X3.23-1974) = ISO 1989:1978
- ANSI COBOL 85 (ANSI X3.23-1985) = ISO 1989:1985 = DIN 66 028
- IBM OS/VS COBOL
- IBM VS COBOL II
- IBM SAA COBOL/370
- IBM DOSVS COBOL
- IBM COBOL for OS/390 & VM (Version 2)
- IBM COBOL Set for AIX (Version 1)
- IBM VisualAge for COBOL (Version 2)
- IBM ILE COBOL Reference (Version 5) AS/400
- IBM COBOL Report Writer Precompiler
- X/Open COBOL
- Micro Focus COBOL
- DEC COBOL (Version 2.3)
- VAX COBOL (Version 5.4) including ORACLE DBMS and DEC RDB
- BULL COBOL-85 (GCOS 8 Release 4020) including IDS/II
- DATA GENERAL COBOL (AOS/VS) including INFOS II and DG/DBMS
- UNISYS ASCII COBOL (1998)
- UNISYS UCS COBOL (HMP IX 5.0, 1999)
The parser implements full COBOL including features such as report writer and communication section. The COPY statement as well as the REPLACING clauses of the COPY and the REPLACE statements are interpreted. The statements EXEC SQL, EXEC CICS and EXEC DLI are handled. The parsers for embedded SQL, CICS and DLI can be attached as optional modules. The COBOL parser builds a syntax tree and a symbol table and it performs name analysis.
Optional modules for Control Flow Analysis (CFA) and Data Flow Analysis (DFA) are available. The control flow analysis takes SQL and CICS statements into account. The control flow in CICS programs can be quite complicated because of the exception handling (EXEC CICS HANDLE CONDITION). A result of control flow analysis is the detection of dead code.
More COBOL dialects can be implemented upon request. For example we have added the dialects TANDEM COBOL and SCREEN COBOL (Pathway) to an instance of the COBOL parser for a certain customer.
Customer specific preprocessors can also be implemented upon request. Examples of preprocessors we have added to some instances of the COBOL parser are Columbus COBOL (Siemens) and Delta COBOL.
References
- ANSI COBOL 85 (ANSI X3.23-1985) = ISO 1989:1985 = DIN 66 028
Information technology - Programming languages - COBOL - IBM VS COBOL II, Application Programming Language Reference, Release 4, Eighth Edition (March 1993), Document Number GC26-4047-07
- IBM COBOL for OS/390 & VM Version 2, IBM COBOL Set for AIX Version 1, VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 and for Windows Version 2, Language Reference, First Edition (May 1997), Document Number SC26-9046-00
- Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, Language Reference, Version 3 Release 3, Third Edition (February 2004), Document Number SC27-1408-02
- Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, Language Reference, Version 4 Release 2, Second Edition (August 2009), Document Number SC23-8528-01
- IBM WebSphere Development Studio: ILE COBOL Reference, Version 5, Third Edition (May 2001), Document Number SC09-2539-02
- IBM COBOL Report Writer Precompiler, Programmer's Manual, Eighth Edition, January 2002, IBM Publication SC26-4301-03
- Micro Focus COBOL, Pocket Guide
- DEC COBOL, Reference Manual, Digital Equipment Corporation, Version 2.3
- VAX COBOL, Reference Manual, Digital Equipment Corporation, Version 5.4, March 1997, Order Number AA-H631G-TE
- BULL COBOL-85, Reference Manual, GCOS 8 Release 4020, September 1991
- COBOL Reference Manual (AOS/VS), Data General Corporation, Rev. 03, January 1992
- ASCII COBOL, Programming Reference Manual, Unisys Corporation, Release Level 7R2G, August 1998
- Universal Compiling System (UCS) COBOL, Programming Reference Manual, Unisys Corporation, HMP IX 5.0, November 1999