Enterprise COBOL
IBM's COBOL compiler for z/OS, the version almost every mainframe COBOL program is compiled with today.
Also written IBM Enterprise COBOL, COBOL 6, COBOL V6, Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, IGYCRCTL
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS is IBM's COBOL compiler. When people say a site "is on COBOL 6", they mean its programs are compiled with version 6 of Enterprise COBOL. The compiler program itself is called IGYCRCTL, a name you will see in compile JCL.
The big change in recent years was the move from version 4 to versions 5 and 6. The newer compilers produce faster code that can use newer hardware, but they also needed changes. Programs must be stored as program objects in PDSE load libraries, compiles take longer and need more memory, and some programs that worked by accident with invalid data, such as bad numbers in fields, behave differently. Many sites ran large projects to move and retest their programs.
The language is the same COBOL you learn anywhere, with additions over the years: intrinsic functions, better support for XML and JSON, and features from newer COBOL standards.
When you start at a site, it is worth knowing which compiler version and options it uses, because that affects what features you can use and how programs behave.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
Start at ZedBankRelated
- COBOLThe programming language most business logic on the mainframe is written in. Verbose by design, and still running the world's payments.
- CompileTurning COBOL source code into machine instructions, checking the syntax and producing a listing of any errors.
- Compiler optionsSettings that control how the COBOL compiler builds a program, which can change both its speed and its behaviour.
- PDSEThe modern version of a partitioned dataset, which reclaims space automatically and removes the old size limits.
- Load moduleThe runnable form of a program, stored in a library, which JCL executes by name.
- Language EnvironmentThe common run-time support for COBOL, PL/I and C programs on z/OS, which handles storage, errors and messages while they run.