A Collection of COBOL Compilers for Windows Users

October, 2007 Edition Copyright Arnold Kochman. Other copyrights also apply, in particular the General Public License.

This is a collection of COBOL Compilers primarily for use on Windows systems. I have included some documentation, where possible. In addition, packagescontain documentation at varying levels of thoroughness, which you willsee when you expand the archives in which they are stored. Naturally, Icannot give assurances about the suitability of any package for aparticular purpose.

You will need one of the commonly available unzip utilities, such as PKUNZIP or WinZip or other program, depending on the type of archive.

Here are the compilers that are included:COBOL Compilers for Windows Users COBOL12 - A 16-bit COBOL compiler that runs under DOS or Windows. Thecompiler was originally based on Ansi74, but has evolved. It does notinclude some features such as SORT and STRING, but it has manyextensions. Indexed sequential files are supported by the standardCOBOL statements for these files, and by the provision of the BTRIEVEindexed file system. Two modules are included to provide the programinterface to the screen. The Format Module provides the ability todisplay a Windows-like screen appearance. Ascii strings are includedin the program to define the screens and the module employs thegraphical facility of mode 12H to format the screen. The Screen Moduleprovides a comprehensive input-output facility for the program,including mouse actions, option buttons, function keys, and Altkeys. The package includes a compiler, a linker and an IDE front end,and a reference manual. OpenCOBOL - A COBOL compiler that implements a substantial part of theCOBOL 85 and COBOL 2002 standards, as well as many popularextensions. OpenCOBOL translates COBOL into C and compiles the translated code using GCC. You can build your COBOL programs onvarious platforms, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft32-bit Windows systems. Windows users can use the GCC compiler fromthe MinGW package, which is included separately on this CD. TheOpenCOBOL compiler is licensed under GNU General Public License. Therun-time library is licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License. Fujitsu COBOL Version 3 for Students Fujitsu promises that thiscompiler will run on Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 4.0; in fact, itseems to run on later versions of Windows as well. In Fujitsu COBOLVersion 3 for students both ODBC connectivity and optimization aredisabled. It complies with ANSI Standard COBOL X3.23 1985,ISO-1989-1985 specifications, and is compatibile with OS/VS COBOL, VSCOBOL II and Micro Focus COBOL. It has an embedded SQL preprocessorand an embedded COBOL report writer. It is equipped with an IDE, afull function COBOL GUI Source Code Debugger, and a Micro FocusConversion Utility. Fujitsu says they will provide "getting startedwith Fujitsu COBOL" support for students using Fujitsu COBOL Version3, but not "standard telephone or email support" for this product. Tiny COBOL Compiler - A COBOL compiler designed to implement the COBOL85 standard, in reference to the ISO 1985, ISO 1989-1 (IntrinsicFunction Module), ANSI X3.23-1985, ANSI X3.23a-1989 (IntrinsicFunction Module), X/Open XPG3 (COBOL programming languagesextensions). It has, in addition, the ability to read/write fromstandard input/output/error, read command line parameters, readenvironment variables, set a file name at runtime, and return aprogram exit code to the invoking process. It generates Intel x84assembly language code, and works together with the GNU assembler togenerate binaries. The compiler is licensed under the GNU GeneralPublic License. The run time libraries are licensed under the GNULesser General Public License. COBOL650 - An old MSDOS COBOL compiler that comes with somedocumentation. It conforms with the ANSI COBOL-74 standard although itdoes not implement the sort/merge feature. It generates OBJ files, soto produce executable programs it will be necessary to use alinker. Two different linkers are included on the CD.MinGW - A native Win32 port of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), withimport libraries and header files for building native Windowsapplications; includes extensions to the MSVC runtime to support C99 functionality. This package is included for use with some of the COBOLcompilers that compile into "C" or assembler as a first compilationphase. Shipping is $3.00 Worldwide