Paul Robinson wrote:
> I am considering the development of a Cobol compiler itself written in
> Cobol. Please don't flame me over the perceived stupidity of such a
> choice, I think it is a better idea than a language that cannot compile
> itself. I do believe obviously that there is enough power in the
> language to implement a COBOL compiler using the COBOL language. After
> all, a compiler is simply a program to translate text from a source into
> a target. We're not talking rocket science or brain surgery here.
>
> I believe there is money to be made with a good inexpensive Cobol
> compiler which is available for several different targets, which would
> allow applications to be used unchanged on different environments, such
> as IBM Mainframe, DOS, Windows, Linux and others. Having done
> maintenance on three other language compilers and written one from
> scratch for Fortran in three months, I decided to focus on Cobol as I
> think it is an underserved market and I think there is both room for
> another product and sufficient market need to merit the time and effort
> in developing one.
>
> I am wondering if there was interest in such a thing. What I am
> thinking about is something that did not require run-time licensing
> fees, would not be hugely expensive as most Cobol compilers seem to be,
> and by writing the compiler in Cobol itself, the people who use the
> compiler, if they wanted an additional feature the compiler did not
> supply, could write the code for it themselves if they chose to do so.
> Oh yes, source code would be included as it has been long standing
> policy that customers are entitled to be able to hire someone other than
> the original development staff if they choose to do so or if it was no
> longer possible to continue development. (Originally I wanted to write
> "to hire someone not as good as the original development staff" in the
> previous sentence but I decided I should be humble! I'm probably not
> that good a programmer, and I'll probably get better as I get more
> experience. I've only been doing programming for 24 years and I figure
> I'll get better as I learn more.)
>
> Perhaps I am misguided and there is no market or desire for such a
> thing. I think there is, but I'd like to hear people's comments on
> whether they would be interested in such a thing and how much
> (seriously) it would be worth to them. I mean, if it is possible to
> sell (nationally or worldwide) 10,000 copies at $100 each that's a huge
> market. On the other hand it might be there's only interest for perhaps
> 500 copies of such an application in which case it would have to be more
> expensive. Or I could be kidding myself that the market is saturated
> and there really is no interest. I don't know enough to judge and I
> don't have enough information to say. That's why I'm asking for
comments.
>
> There is also the issue that I may be pricing the product too high to be
> worthwhile or that I'm pricing it so low that no one will take me
> seriously. That is also why I'm trying to find out what people who
> actually use Cobol (or would buy one for use in their shop) think such a
> thing is worth. Obviously what I want to develop is something that is
> so valuable to them for what is being charged that they both believe
> they can't afford not to get it, and worry about buying it fast enough
> before I come to our senses and raise the price on them. If that is the
> case and I can make money off of it, it's a win-win situation for
everyone.
>
> There is also the issue that if there is interest I am going to want to
> ask some people to either send me some of the code they use or examples
> of some so I can test it or to be willing to try compiling production
> code against various releases of the compiler and inform me if they get
> the same results as their current system, or what differences they
> notice. I'll file specific notices when that happens in order to
> solicit beta testers, but I'm curious if there is interest.
>
> I'm also interested in two things: (1) what features do you find missing
> in Cobol compilers or the programming environment that you wish were
> available, (2) what would you want from a good quality Cobol compiler,
> again with a view towards something you think is worth paying for.
>
> Of course you can try to tell me that I'm making a huge mistake and it's
> pointless for me to bother, in which case I'd like to know your reasons.
>
> Paul Robinson
> paul at code-compiler dot com
>
>
> Remove NOSPAM from out of header for private e-mail replies if desired,
> but I really am interested in newsgroup replies.
Count me in for a few hours a week. As to specifics ... start small and
expand to everything.
Donald
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