Introduction

There I was, at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2001, surrounded by thousands of fellow developers. We were all looking forward to the various events that would take place during that week. Microsoft, with Bill Gates himself in attendance, was soon to launch Windows XP, their newest Windows version. Although this was going to be great, it was really just icing on the cake. What we really came to the PDC for was to hear about .NET (and, of course, to go home with the latest versions of various software titles). I was captivated during the general sessions as several Microsoft knowledge holders spoke rather eloquently about how the development world was changing and how we as developers were in the driver's seat. This all sounded extremely comforting. One Microsoft speaker after another presented and demonstrated some of the newest features of the .NET Framework. Each feature mentioned received loud applause and unanimous cheers. This was a pep rally to end all pep rallies. It really felt good. Until. . .

One particular Microsoft speaker (who will remain nameless) proudly announced the .NET Framework feature the .NET common language runtime (CLR), which allows developers to potentially develop Windows and Web programs in practically any language. ^[2] He mentioned Visual Basic .NET and the crowd cheered. He mentioned the new language C# and again the crowd cheered. Then it happened . The speaker mentioned (with emphasis) that you would even be able to code in COBOL! Yes, the standing-room-only crowd reacted. However, there were no cheers, no applause, and no ovations. Rather, the crowd booed, heckled, and laughed ”loudly and continuously. Ouch! I slouched in my seat and pretended to join in.

Note  

Giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, I believe the assumptions may have been that any developer attending the PDC event naturally was devoted to developing in the .NET environment. They may have deduced that such developers could not possibly mind such ridicule and humiliation. Perhaps they only erred on the latter. For the record: No ill feelings harbored. All is forgiven.

Having coded in this great language called COBOL for many years (both batch and CICS online applications), I concluded that most of the people joining the laugh -in had never actually carried the honorable title of COBOL/CICS/DB2 mainframe programmer. Simply put, they were either jealous or in denial.

Finally, Something for Us

There at the PDC 2001 event, I swore that I would do something for the group of developers interested in .NET that had a foundation similar to mine: mainframe COBOL programming. I wanted to create something that would speak positively to this group of developers.This group of mainframe programmers (those who are seeking reformation ^[3] ) is now facing retraining challenges exacerbated by a void of mainframe-oriented guidance. This is a problem unique to mainframe programmers regardless of which new Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) they choose to use on the .NET platform: Visual Basic .NET (VB .NET) or NetCOBOL for .NET ( courtesy of Fujitsu Software).

This book is my attempt to address this need for mainframe-oriented guidance to tackling .NET. To the 90,000 COBOL programmers ^[4] that exist in North America and the uncounted many abroad, hold on to this book. As you strive to join the ranks of .NET developers, you will be hard-pressed to find other books (or Web sites, for that matter) that attempt to provide this type of mainframe-oriented .NET guidance.

^[2] There is the requirement that a .NET version compiler be created to enable additional languages to be used in the .NET platform. Microsoft provides compilers for Visual Basic .NET and C#.

^[3] Please pardon my attempt at humor ”my own chance to poke a little fun at those like myself who either have gone or will go through a career "technology transition." Yes, I too am a reformed mainframe programmer and proud of that fact.

^[4] According to published estimates of the analyst firm Gartner, there are approximately 90,000 COBOL programmers in North America.