Data processing: structural design – modeling – simulation – and em – Simulating electronic device or electrical system – Software program
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-23
2001-05-08
Teska, Kevin J. (Department: 2763)
Data processing: structural design, modeling, simulation, and em
Simulating electronic device or electrical system
Software program
C707S793000, C709S202000, C709S241000, C717S152000, C717S152000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06230117
ABSTRACT:
SOURCE CODE APPENDIX
A one card microfiche appendix containing 20 frames of source code of a computer program used with the present invention is appended hereto as Appendix A.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly to an automated system for generating an interface between computer programs in different programming languages and operating in different environments.
2. Prior Art
The trend in computing is towards systems which support multiple program environments. The support of multiple program environments provides a flexible computing platform. For example, computer programming languages supported by personal IBM compatible computers include JAVA, C
++
, C, PASCAL, FORTRAN, COBOL, and BASIC running on DOS or OS/2 operating systems. Another trend in computer systems is the implementation of distributed computing systems. Distributed computing comprises a client-server model in which a client program and a server program run, and typically the client and the server execute on different systems in the computer network.
As computer systems become more open and flexible, the variety of program environments makes the sharing of information difficult. Associated with the addition of each program environment is a new way of handling data. In the context of COBOL, accessing existing or legacy COBOL on a mainframe or networked computer is typically performed through CICS (Customer Information Control System) transactions. In order to remotely access the COBOL program from another computer environment such as C
++
or JAVA requires the programmer to perform three tedious and time consuming tasks. First, the programmer must establish a mapping between the other language types and the COBOL data types. Second, the programmer must translate the data and semantics of the other language to the corresponding COBOL data type. This problem is compounded by the fact that the interaction of CICS programs is foreign to most JAVA users who are most familiar with components. In addition, the COBOL data must be formatted according to the alignment rules of COBOL so that the CICS transaction recognizes the data being passed. Third, the data passed between the two machines (i.e. computing environments) must be translated to the format of the target machine. In practical terms this means that a codepage translation must be done and native data such as floating point and integer data must be translated to the format of the target machine. The translation of the data must be performed in both directions, i.e. the call of the CICS transaction from the target machine, and the return to the CICS transaction from the target machine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system for generating an interface which defines the mapping from an existing COBOL program to computer programs written in other languages, and is particularly suited to the C
++
and JAVA platforms. The system according to the present invention creates an interface which defines the mapping of data types and different program semantics between COBOL and the other language, translates the data types between COBOL and the other language, and handles the conversion between codepages and machine architectures.
The system according to the present invention also incorporates the unit of work semantic into the created interface. The unit of work semantic is part of the CICS External Call Interface. The interface that is created and the code that is generated to implement the interface conform to the component model which allows for seamless integration with other tools.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides an import utility for interfacing a COBOL program through a CICS transaction to a program in another program environment, said import utility comprising: (a) scanner means for scanning the CICS transaction for said COBOL program and producing a data description of said CICS transaction; (b) parser means for parsing said data description into a corresponding token stream; (c) importer means for importing said token stream and generating a data model describing said CICS transaction in said other program environment, said data model including means for converting information between said CICS transaction and a program in said other program environment, and said data model being compatible for generating code for an invoking mechanism in a program for invoking said CICS transaction from said other program environment.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a computer system having a first program environment and a second program environment, said computer system comprising: an importer having scanner means for scanning a transaction interface for a program running in said first program environment and producing an output describing the transaction interface for the program in said first program environment, parser means for parsing the output description from said scanner means and generating a token stream, creator means for creating a data model from said token stream, wherein said data model includes means for converting information from said transaction interface for a program running in said second program environment; a compiler having means for compiling a program in said second program environment and said data model to produce an executable program, said executable program including invoking means derived from said data model for accessing the program operating in said first program environment.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a computer program product for use in computer system having a first program environment and a second program environment, said first program environment providing an operating platform for a COBOL program and CICS transactions, said computer program product comprising: a recording medium; means recorded on said medium for instructing said computer system to perform the steps of, (a) scanning the CICS transaction in said COBOL program and producing a data description of said CICS transaction; (b) parsing said data description into a corresponding token stream; (c) creating a data model from said token stream wherein said data model describes said CICS transaction in said second program environment and includes means for converting information between said first and second program environments, and said data model being compatible for generating code for an invoking mechanism in a program for invoking said CICS transaction from said second program environment.
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Textbook, David a. Taylor, Object-Oriented Information Systems, 1992, john Wiley & Sons, Chapter 11, pp. 296-299.*
Textbook, Thomas Mowbray and William Ruh, Inside CORBA, 1997, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., Preface pp. xxi-xxiii, Figures 8.7 and 8.8 and pp. 224-225.
Lymer Sharon Frances
Starkey Michael
Stephenson John Wright
August Casey P.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Knox Lonnie A.
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
Teska Kevin J.
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