Micro Focus Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 Delivers High-Performance PC Programming; Targets PC Users; Connect the Enterprise with the Desktop

Business Wire, August 14, 1995

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 1995--Micro Focus(R) today announced Visual Object COBOL(TM) version 1.0 for Windows(R) 95, the first COBOL development environment designed specifically for Windows 95. Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 fully exploits the Windows 95 platform, providing an integrated visual development environment for creating high-performance PC and client applications that support features such as OLE Automation, multi-threading, object-orientation and 32-bit performance.

Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 introduces a new visual development environment for developing and managing Windows 95 applications. Visual tools include a Multiple Document Interface which provides a flexible way to work while editing, browsing and debugging applications through synchronized views of the application; a Project Wizard for rapidly creating development projects and a Resource Editor for painting GUI screens.

"Micro Focus is committed to bringing high-end development to the desktop and this product, designed specifically for the Windows 95 platform, is a significant step in furthering this mission," said Peter Katz, vice president of marketing for Micro Focus. "Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 links existing business applications to the Windows 95 platform. By providing support for OLE Automation, we are building a bridge between the enterprise and the desktop, effectively bringing these two worlds together."

"With the Windows 95 product, we are targeting the PC market by offering a moderate price point and expanding product distribution into broader sales channels. Our objective with this strategy is to serve the mainstream business community that will embrace the Windows 95 technology," said Marian Sichel, executive vice president for Micro Focus.

PC Programming Features for Windows 95

OLE Automation

OLE Automation provides a high degree of interoperability and integration between applications, enabling diverse applications to work together without each application needing to understand how the others work. By providing support for OLE Automation, Visual Object COBOL applications can now exploit functionality existing in other popular OLE applications. It can also be easily integrated with other OLE-enabled languages, tools and applications, such as Visual Basic, Visual C , Microsoft Word, Excel and Access. Visual Object COBOL can be used as the scripting language for diverse OLE applications, enabling the COBOL program to control how these OLE applications execute.

Visual Object COBOL also allows COBOL programs to be created as OLE service providers. This enables the COBOL code to be used or reused from other OLE-enabled languages. As a result, Visual Basic or Visual C can control a Visual Object COBOL program.

32-Bit Performance and Optimization

Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 is a powerful 32-bit development environment, including compiler technology optimized for the Intel 32-bit architecture. Visual Object COBOL compiler optimizations have been jointly developed by Intel and Micro Focus for 32-bit products, providing improved performance for COBOL programs running on i486 and Pentium processors. Applications are compiled as high-performance, native 32-bit applications that fully exploit the power of 32-bit machines and 32-bit Windows operating systems.

Multi-threading

Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 provides multi-threading support, allowing multiple paths of execution in a single program. The visual development environment itself is multi-threaded, providing the programmer with a highly productive environment where multiple tasks, such as project building, editing and debugging, can be conducted at the same time. Visual Object COBOL applications can also take advantage of multi-threading, for example, in a "client" application, this enables a user to interact with a program through the data-entry window while a separate "thread" of the program is validating fields or performing a look-up function in the background. These threads execute concurrently, providing better response times and increased productivity. In a "server" application, multi-threading support allows simultaneous processing of multiple requests from multiple clients, resulting in greater throughput and faster response times.

Object-Orientation Benefits

Visual Object COBOL for Windows 95 combines all of the benefits of object-orientation and COBOL. Among the object-oriented features included are simple syntax extensions to support full object-oriented programming; OLE Automation support, enabling Visual Object COBOL programs and classes to interact with OLE classes written in other languages; a rich Class Library, providing a foundation for building new applications; and a Browser for navigating classes. All of these features are provided in a manner that is easy for COBOL programmers to learn. A comprehensive set of tutorials and sample applications guide users through the stages of learning object-orientation in COBOL.