jpren@alumni.colorado.edu (John Prentice) (06/12/91)
Hi, I'm looking for information/feedback concerning using Ada on an IBM 370 running MVS. I'm working with a group at the Defense Finance and Accounting Services Denver Center (DFAS - DE). We are trying to prepare the organization to use Ada, should the recent mandates/laws ever reach this far into the COBOL world. To date, we have been evaluating compilers (Alsys and Intermetrics), and some PC based tools (e.g. AdaSage), and building interfaces to IBM software such as VSAM and ISPF. We have also written a packed decimal package that uses IBM's decimal arithmetic facilities and is format compatible with COBOL. In the future, we plan to build an interface to VTAM, explore networking capabilities, and spend time studying the STANFINS system and development environment. (STANFINS or SRD2 is a large (2 million loc) finance/accounting system written in Ada for an IBM 370 running MVS). I'm interested both in general information concerning experiences in this domain, and specific information concerning Ada based tools or Ada interfaces to utilities such screen and report generators, database management systems, etc. I would like to avoid duplicating work that others may have already done as well as to share work that we have done with other interested parties (e.g., has anyone else worked with packed decimal?) Thanks, John Prentice Harris Data Services Corporation (HDSC) (303) 676-7277
jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) (06/12/91)
I actually think Ada is quite well suited for MIS applications--ironically enough, perhaps even MORE so than for embedded real time. The reason I say this is that 1) MIS systems tend to do information modeling, which is a natural transition to OO techniques [which Ada supports] and 2) there is at least one excellent success story, STANFINS-R, that proves that it not is not only possible to do MIS applications in Ada but that it makes SENSE to do them in Ada. -- *** LIMITLESS SOFTWARE, Inc: Jim Showalter, jls@netcom.com, (408) 243-0630 **** *Proven solutions to software problems. Consulting and training on all aspects* *of software development. Management/process/methodology. Architecture/design/* *reuse. Quality/productivity. Risk reduction. EFFECTIVE OO usage. Ada/C++. *