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To: ERM who wrote (6261)	5/13/1998 12:58:00 PM
From: TEDennis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10786

ERM: Re: Legacy COBOL or PL/I to C++ or Java Well, I left that statement alone because most people aren't going to want to hear what I have to say. I've been a legacy code developer for many years. The "migration" to client server platforms has been an ongoing activity for several of those years. I have yet to see a language conversion tool that lives up to its expectations. The language conversion works, but that's not the "rest of the story". The switch to client server is more than just a language conversion. It is an environment conversion. Legacy programs that are batch oriented, or TP monitor oriented (CICS, IMS, ISPF, etc.) are not typically very useful when converted to client-server which is a far more user-interactivity model. For me, anyway, this announcement is a major "ho-hum" ... Regards, TED (#6262 a double!)

To: ERM who wrote (6261)	5/13/1998 1:13:00 PM
From: TEDennis	Respond to of 10786

All: In response to my query regarding the long term supporters' current thoughts, Tech Master sent me a Private Message. He gave me his approval to post his thoughts. (My paraphrase of his post follows ....) Tech Master is very happy with the recent announcement on the internal plans for SmartCode, and is expecting goodness in the future. Edit: He also mentioned that he has NOT been a seller. Regards, TED

To: ERM who wrote (6261)	5/13/1998 1:19:00 PM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Respond to of 10786

You who are programmers please explain to Shane the importance of this product, and why ALYD will be around long after 2000. Actually, Shane is one of the best C++ programmers in the country so I think he's set on the programming side of things (gg). I think the initial confusion is that ALYD did not announce a new language they can remediate, but rather a whole new use for SmartCode: migration. To be simplistic, you put in your legacy COBOL and out comes C++. Anyone who has used SmartCode knows it gives you all sorts of reports, such as where variables are used, how often certain code is used if at all, and even business process logic. Code scanners, i.e. the ones that just look for variables that resemble dates, are a whole different (read: inferior) breed compared to SmartCode. Thus, the versatility of SmartCode is why ALYD will remain strong after 2000, IMO. My personal opinion about COBOL to C++ conversion is that it should be a boon to companies looking to offload certain mainframe-centric processes to NT and/or an internet/intranet environment. I think mainframes will still be necessary in 2000 to store and access huge volumes of data, but data manipulation will be offloaded to the PC. We could spend days talking about the intricacies of converting COBOL to C++, or, on a different level, converting from a procedural to an object-oriented language. So, suffice to say "easier said than done". But we're talking post 2000 here, so ALYD can take their time and get it right. In closing, I want to say I'm very happy to see ALYD finally talking about SmartCode because prior to today the average Y2K investor probably just lumped ALYD in with anyone that had a Y2K tool. In other words, SmartCode is a philosophy (i.e. a vision), not just a product-- and, to paraphrase a former President, it's the vision thing you know. - Jeff