Alliance Between Delta Software Technology and The Software Revolution, Inc.

Delta Software Technology and The Software Revolution, Inc. have formed an alliance to work together on the development of a new product component for ADSplus. The new ADSplus target should allow the generation of high performance Java code from existing ADSplus applications.

You might be asking yourself why would anyone want to regenerate an existing ADSplus application into Java rather than in standard COBOL or PL/1? The answer is simple: if you are deploying applications to an IBM System z mainframe then you can save a lot of money!

IBM System z Application Assist Processor for Java

IBM System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP) are specialized processors available on IBM’s more recent System z mainframes that provide a cost-efficient way of running Java applications.

A standard Java program is run by the z/OS Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in the usual way. The difference is that the z/OS JVM can dynamically schedule work to run on the standard processor(s) and/or one or more zAAPs. No changes at all are required in the Java code. The z/OS JVM does all the work “behind the scenes.”

The current zAAP concept proposed by IBM can only be used by Java applications. COBOL and PL/1 are not supported. How can ADSplus users take advantage of this offer, without giving up the advantages of developing high performance and easy to maintain COBOL and PL/1 applications?

New Target: Java for zAAP

We want to allow our customers to take advantage of the price-performance benefits of zAAP, but only if certain absolute requirements can be met by the proposed solution:

• No changes at all to the existing ADSplus application source code.
• No changes to the existing development and maintenance processes.
• No requirement for ADSplus developers to get involved with Java or zAAP.
• Further development and maintenance of the applications will be performed at the ADSplus code level.
• Parallel generation of both Java and COBOL or PL/1 versions of the ADSplus application at all times so that there is no risk of being “locked in” to zAAP.

Having looked at a number of options we are pleased to have come up with an approach that can meet all of the above requirements. The simple way to think of this is as a new target for ADSplus – one that outputs high-performance Java code rather than COBOL or PL/1.

To help us solve this challenge we have formed an alliance with The Software Revolution, Inc., who have specialised in the conversion of COBOL into Java from COBOL, and with whom we have also worked in the Object Management Group (OMG) on the Architecture Driven Modernization (ADM) task force.

The Software Revolution, Inc.

The Software Revolution, Inc. (TSRI) is based near Seattle in the USA. The produce the JANUS AI-based software re-engineering tools. Established in 1995, TSRI’s technology is based on research originally performed by the US Air Force at their famous “Rome Laboratory” near New York, and that was subsequently applied by Boeing to software reverse engineering, software re-engineering and reuse.

ADSplus Target uses JANUS from TSRI

Working with TSRI we are currently investigating the possibilities for the development of the new ADSplus target. The starting point is an original ADSplus application that must be generated into high performance standard Java code. The Java code will then be deployed to the z/OS JVM and run on the zAAP processor.

Naturally the Java version must have the exact same behaviour as the original application. Further, the performance tests will be especially important as Java code (which is interpreted) is by its very nature slower as compiled COBOL or PL/1. This disadvantage can only be compensated to a certain degree by faster processors

Further Development

Work is now underway at Delta in Schmallenberg and at TSRI in Seattle to develop a proof of concept to show that the new ADSplus target can automatically generate high-performance Java for deployment on zAAP with absolutely no changes to the existing ADSplus application.

We will give an update on our progress on this exciting project in the next Delta Newsletter. In the meantime, if you are deploying your ADSplus applications to IBM System z and would like to know more about the new ADSplus target for zAAP then please contact your local sales representative.

Innovative Generator-Based Solutions from “The Generator Company”

The work that we have been doing on generating ADSplus applications to run on the IBM zAAP might seem a bit odd at first glance. However, it is an interesting verification of the value of the decision to invest in ADSplus for application development. By keeping your application specification at a high logical level with ADSplus you are able to benefit from such innovations.

Delta is “The Generator Company”, and we are continually looking for ways to come up with generator-based innovations that can help you save time and money, and to get the most out of your existing and future investment in Delta’s tools and technologies. Keep reading the Delta Newsletter to learn about further developments.