[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":435},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-34407924":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":29,"sentiment":30,"stance_mix":31,"scored_comments":36,"aspects":37,"strip":46,"post_text":47,"what":48,"said":90,"maker_in_thread":181,"shape":189,"grid":192,"attempts":396,"same_week":397,"maker_shows":45,"maker_hidden":427,"reader_version":428,"card":429},"34407924","Otterkit","COBOL compiler for .NET","title","Show HN: Otterkit – COBOL compiler for .NET","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fotterkit\u002Fotterkit","github.com","KTSnowy",1673918007,2023,192,77,291,3109,10,"notable","languages","compiler","cli",[24,25,26,27,28],"cobol","cobol compiler",".net","cobol to c#","open source compiler","mixed",0.189,{"positive":32,"neutral":33,"mixed":34,"critical":35},7,9,2,4,22,{"idea":38,"execution":41,"performance":43,"docs":44},{"positive":39,"critical":40},5,3,{"positive":42,"critical":42},0,{"positive":42,"critical":42},{"positive":42,"critical":45},1,[42,42,42,42,40,45,39,40,40,42,42,45,42,42,40,42,42,40,42,39,42,42,42,42,42,42,42,39,40,39,39,40,40,39,40,42,40,42,42,45],null,{"problem":49,"audience":56,"pricing":63,"motivation":68,"time_to_build":47,"stack":72,"openness":87,"stage":88,"team_size":89},{"value":50,"source":51,"evidence":52},"Lack of free, open source COBOL compilers; existing ones are closed and expensive","maker",[53],{"id":54,"by":11,"text":55},"34408546","I find COBOL to be a very interesting language, with a huge unexplored potential. For example, I'm sure that most people are not aware that COBOL has generics, method…",{"value":57,"source":51,"evidence":58},"Developers interested in COBOL and companies wanting to avoid compiler licensing fees",[59,60],{"id":54,"by":11,"text":55},{"id":61,"by":11,"text":62},"34408671","I understand, but this is an open source compiler. It's meant to be used by anyone who is interested in the language, or maybe by companies that wish to replace their quite…",{"value":64,"source":51,"evidence":65},"Free",[66,67],{"id":54,"by":11,"text":55},{"id":61,"by":11,"text":62},{"value":69,"source":51,"evidence":70},"Improve the COBOL ecosystem by making open source tooling and showing modern COBOL features",[71],{"id":54,"by":11,"text":55},[73,80],{"value":74,"source":51,"evidence":75},"C#",[76,77],{"id":54,"by":11,"text":55},{"id":78,"by":11,"text":79},"34414361","> Is it really a transpiler? Why not directly compile to CIL? The end result of running Otterkit will be an executable or a C# DLL, so compiler would still be the most accurate…",{"value":81,"source":51,"evidence":82},".NET",[83,86],{"id":84,"by":11,"text":85},"34407925","I'm the lead developer of Otterkit. We've been working on this compiler for the past few months. The goal is to support the latest COBOL 2022 standard and compile it to C# (will…",{"id":78,"by":11,"text":79},"open_source","prototype","unknown",{"praise":91,"objections":119,"requests":138,"questions":153,"alternatives":168},[92,108],{"value":93,"source":94,"evidence":95},"Seen as a valuable open source effort for COBOL modernisation","commenter",[96,100,104],{"id":97,"by":98,"text":99},"34410552","b800h","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…",{"id":101,"by":102,"text":103},"34409051","what-no-tests","What's with all the haters? Give this hacker some love!",{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},"34409087","rtev","This is awesome.",{"value":109,"source":94,"evidence":110},"Useful for serverless or modernising legacy COBOL",[111,115],{"id":112,"by":113,"text":114},"34409748","m1sta_","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.",{"id":116,"by":117,"text":118},"34410084","tapland","I'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…",[120,131],{"value":121,"source":94,"evidence":122},"Little use for COBOL on .NET given mainframe lock-in",[123,127],{"id":124,"by":125,"text":126},"34408534","qbasic_forever","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…",{"id":128,"by":129,"text":130},"34414906","IainIreland","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…",{"value":132,"source":94,"evidence":133},"GnuCOBOL already exists and is more complete",[134],{"id":135,"by":136,"text":137},"34408963","xvilka","Why not improving Gnu COBOL[1] then? It has better support for the COBOL constructs and libraries already. [1] https:\u002F\u002Fgnucobol.sourceforge.io\u002F",[139,146],{"value":140,"source":94,"evidence":141},"Support for EXEC SQL and EXEC CICS",[142],{"id":143,"by":144,"text":145},"34411664","le-mark","Exes-sql, exec-cics are required for anything mainframe.",{"value":147,"source":94,"evidence":148},"Ability to call .NET libraries from COBOL",[149],{"id":150,"by":151,"text":152},"34408371","richardjam73","How will this be integrated into dotnet? Will you be able to call dotnet libraries?",[154,161],{"value":155,"source":94,"evidence":156},"Why compile to C# rather than CIL directly",[157],{"id":158,"by":159,"text":160},"34411601","Rochus","> 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…",{"value":162,"source":94,"evidence":163},"Which existing COBOL compilers the team uses",[164],{"id":165,"by":166,"text":167},"34414248","justin66","What existing COBOL compilers do the developers of Otterkit use to make production software? What operating systems and machines and so on?",[169,173,177],{"value":170,"source":94,"evidence":171},"GnuCOBOL",[172],{"id":135,"by":136,"text":137},{"value":174,"source":94,"evidence":175},"Micro Focus COBOL",[176],{"id":97,"by":98,"text":99},{"value":178,"source":94,"evidence":179},"IBM COBOL compiler",[180],{"id":128,"by":129,"text":130},{"comments":18,"answered":182,"key":183},6,[184,185,188],{"id":54,"text":55},{"id":186,"text":187},"34409048","I know about GnuCOBOL, but both projects have different goals and ideals. Otterkit compiles to C#, and GnuCOBOL compiles to C. The two are meant for different use cases. 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