Whats the difference between OS 390 Cobol and Natural/Adabas Cobol

[sreeni9999]

Hi

Whats the difference between the OS390 Cobol programming and Natural/Adabas Cobol programming. Will there be any other things to know to work on Natural/Adabas Cobol because I have only IBM-Mainframe knowledge.

Thanks.

Sreeni.

 

[noggin]

Not sure what you mean...

Adabas C is an inverted-list DBMS with a well-deserved reputation as a very fast and reliable, although non-relational, database. Nothing to stop you making your table design relational but all the integrity handling, constraints, triggers etc. would have to be performed by the application itself.

Natural is a 4GL development language.

Both come from Software AG and are generally, but not always, used together. Natural's own source and objects, security, cross-referencing data etc are themselves stored on Adabas files (on the mainframe anyway).

Adabas can be accessed from most 3GL languages (including COBOL) using direct calls. Can also be accessed via SQL using an add-in (although since Adabas is NOT a relational DB the translation and/or performance can be a bit problematic).

Natural is usually written to access Adabas using its own verbs (READ, FIND, GET etc which are internally translated into calls) although direct calls can be used. Can also access normal flat files, VSAM files and SQL databases.

If you're a COBOL programmer you'll have no problem with the overall feel and syntax of Natural.

BUT...if you're accustomed to SQL and now need to use Natural's own data access commands (READ, FIND etc) there will be a learning curve since the database concepts are different and, as a Natural programmer, you have a LOT more control over how the data is retrieved.

Adabas D is a completely separate product, a true relational/SQL database.

 

[naturalone]

Hi,
I have been using natural/DB2 for 3+ years and just secured a contract to do natural/adabas. Any tips for me? I could use a place to get free example code or programs such as: Browse programs that have not been construct generated.

 

[ceh4702]

What do you mean by OS 390 COBOL. On an OS 390 you can run VM, VSE/ESA, and possibly Linux. We run VSE/ESA and we have COBOL designed for that environment. Never used the Natural Products or ADABAS. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[3gm]

ceh -

OS/390 is part of the evolution of what was MVS to z/OS. Kinda like the evolution of DOS to DOS/VSE to VSE/ESA. I think you misunderstood OS/390 to be the underlying hardware platform now known by IBM a zSeries (was ES/9000, etc).

I think IBM's rapid name changing for servers and OS's over the last few years has been VERY confusing, especially for those of us not really in the thick of IBM hardware or software acquisition and installation (e.g. application programmers).

I think the answer to the original question is that much or most of what Sreeni will see using ADABAS should be familiar barring differences in COBOL compiler version (e.g. COBOL vs COBOL/II vs COBOL for MVS/VM etc), and shop choices for editor, debugging tools, etc, and, of course the ADABAS API.

3gm

 

[Truusvlugindewind]

The biggest advantage of Natural vs COBOL on a mainframe is the easy of developing on-line programs. I've worked in a Adabas/Nartural shop where most of the programmers knew absolutely nothing about CICS. They were developing programs running under CICS for quite some time, but the underlying TP momitor is completly transparent when you work with Natural. In combination with Predict (datadictionary) and Construct (program generator) it is a wonderfull environment.
Accessing Adabas from COBOL is easy when you use ADA-SQL. It uses a subset of ansiSQL.
Nowadays I work on a IMS/DB2 site. This means more work and less productivity compared to a Adabas/Natural site.