Using ABO and Enterprise COBOL together

From this release, IBM® Automatic Binary Optimizer for z/OS® can now optimize the latest IBM Enterprise COBOL program modules, up to and including Enterprise COBOL 6.4. IBM Automatic Binary Optimizer for z/OS and the IBM Enterprise COBOL compiler serve complementary purposes.

  • ABO optimizes COBOL program modules compiled by Enterprise COBOL; Enterprise COBOL compiles and optimizes COBOL source code.
  • There is no performance trade-off when using ABO. In performance tests, ABO 2.2 and Enterprise COBOL 6.4 deliver comparable performance.
  • ABO offers a faster path to performance gains. Migrating to Enterprise COBOL 6 can require multiple rounds of compile and test. Source code changes will be required if problems like invalid data are detected in existing applications.
  • Use the latest Enterprise COBOL to compile new COBOL programs or to recompile COBOL programs requiring changes. Use ABO to optimize your COBOL programs that are not in your recompilation plan or if the program source code is not available.
  • Use the latest Enterprise COBOL to compile new programs with the best options for debug, development and test, and then use ABO to optimize for best performance in production. This combination offers quicker time to value, with significantly reduced testing cost, and suits an iterative development model.

You can choose which product to use according to Table 1.

Table 1. Comparing ABO and Enterprise COBOL 6 compiler use cases
Use case Automatic Binary Optimizer Enterprise COBOL 6 ABO + Enterprise COBOL
Improve performance and reduce CPU usage:
  • source available, and
  • recompilation and test in plan
√
In this case, you can use ABO to optimize modules directly
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In this case, you can use Enterprise COBOL 6, but migration, recompilation, and options tuning are required
√
Improve performance and reduce CPU usage:
  • source not available, or
  • no recompilation plan
√
In this case, you can use ABO to optimize modules directly
  
√
Implement new features and fix application defects  
√
In this case, change your source, recompile with Enterprise COBOL 6 and test
√
Improve performance of your COBOL 4 and earlier programs that interoperate with OS/VS COBOL
√
Your ABO optimized COBOL 4 and earlier programs will interoperate with OS/VS COBOL
 The OS/VS programs must be migrated to Enterprise COBOL 6 to interoperate with new compiled code
√
Testing requirements Significantly less as no risk due to invalid data/code and no source changes. Optimize modules directly. Detecting problems (e.g. invalid data) requires a 2-step compile/test approach. Fixes require source changes.