Otterkit
Languages and libraries
compiler
SHOW HN2023
How HN took it
7 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 4 critical, out of 22 comments about the project. Thread score +0.19.
Idea: 5 for, 3 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Seen as a valuable open source effort for COBOL modernisation
From 3 comments
This is actually pretty huge - up until now Microfocus (and IBM) have dominated the COBOL modernisation space. What would be really interesting would be a systems integrator…
b800h on HNWhat's with all the haters? Give this hacker some love!
what-no-tests on HNThis is awesome.
rtev on HN
Useful for serverless or modernising legacy COBOL
From 2 comments
I can see a lot of people asking about intended use cases here. I can imagine this as part of a toolchain for making legacy COBOL code 'serverless'. There's a lot of value in that.
m1sta_ on HNI'm in my second or third project facing this very issue right now. We run a lot of Java and C# and have migrated most things to various cloud solutions. But, we ofc still run…
tapland on HN
Objections
Little use for COBOL on .NET given mainframe lock-in
From 2 comments
Who do you expect to use this? As I understand it most COBOL use is on legacy mainframes that definitely aren't going to also be running .NET anytime soon. When a company is…
qbasic_forever on HNEh. I worked on IBM's COBOL compiler for four years or so, and I think you're overselling COBOL. COBOL is the best language for extending the functionality of critical legacy…
IainIreland on HN
GnuCOBOL already exists and is more complete
From 1 comment
Why not improving Gnu COBOL[1] then? It has better support for the COBOL constructs and libraries already. [1] https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/
xvilka on HN
Requests
Support for EXEC SQL and EXEC CICS
From 1 comment
Exes-sql, exec-cics are required for anything mainframe.
le-mark on HN
Ability to call .NET libraries from COBOL
From 1 comment
How will this be integrated into dotnet? Will you be able to call dotnet libraries?
richardjam73 on HN
Questions
Why compile to C# rather than CIL directly
From 1 comment
> Otterkit compiles to C# Is it really a transpiler? Why not directly compile to CIL? > I'm sure that most people are not aware that COBOL has generics But this is only in the…
Rochus on HN
Which existing COBOL compilers the team uses
From 1 comment
What existing COBOL compilers do the developers of Otterkit use to make production software? What operating systems and machines and so on?
justin66 on HN
Alternatives named
GnuCOBOL
From 1 comment
Why not improving Gnu COBOL[1] then? It has better support for the COBOL constructs and libraries already. [1] https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/
xvilka on HN
Micro Focus COBOL
From 1 comment
This is actually pretty huge - up until now Microfocus (and IBM) have dominated the COBOL modernisation space. What would be really interesting would be a systems integrator…
b800h on HN
IBM COBOL compiler
From 1 comment
Eh. I worked on IBM's COBOL compiler for four years or so, and I think you're overselling COBOL. COBOL is the best language for extending the functionality of critical legacy…
IainIreland on HN