Comparison of COBOL compilers

Table 1 gives an overview of the functions available with the latest releases of OS/VS COBOL, VS COBOL II, COBOL for MVS & VM, COBOL for OS/390® & VM, and shows the new functions available with the Enterprise COBOL compiler.

Table 1. Comparison of COBOL compilers
OS/VS COBOL VS COBOL II COBOL for MVS & VM COBOL for OS/390 & VM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS®
       
Support for:
XML,
Java™ interoperability,
OO,
integrated CICS®
translator,
multithreading,
Unicode,
JSON
     
Support for:
DLLs,
31 digits,
Db2® coprocessor,
OS/390 UNIX,
Enhanced support for
Debug Tool
Support for:
DLLs,
31 digits,
Db2 coprocessor,
OS/390 UNIX,
Enhanced support
for Debug Tool
   
Extensions for:
Object-oriented
COBOL,
C interoperability,
Intrinsic functions,
Amendment to
'85 Std,
Support for:
Language
Environment
Debug Tool
Extensions for:
Object-oriented
COBOL,
C interoperability,
Intrinsic functions,
Amendment to
'85 Std,
Support for:
Language
Environment
Debug Tool
Extensions for:
C interoperability,
Intrinsic functions,
Amendment to
85 COBOL Standard,
Support for:
Language
Environment
Debug Tool
  85 COBOL Standard, No intrinsic functions, Structured programming, DBCS National language, Improved CICS interface, 31-bit addressing, Reentrancy, Fast Sort Optimizer, Interactive debugging (full-screen mode) 85 COBOL Standard, Structured programming, DBCS National language, Improved CICS interface, 31-bit addressing, Reentrancy, Fast Sort Optimizer, Interactive debugging (full-screen mode) 85 COBOL Standard, Structured programming, DBCS National language, Improved CICS interface, 31-bit addressing, Reentrancy, Fast Sort Optimizer, Interactive debugging (full-screen mode) 85 COBOL Standard and select features from 2002 COBOL Standard and 2014 COBOL Standard, Structured programming, DBCS National language, Improved CICS interface, 31-bit addressing, Reentrancy, Fast Sort Optimizer, Interactive debugging (full-screen mode)
74 COBOL Standard, 74 STD FIPS flagging, Dynamic loading, Batch debugging, Interactive debugging (line mode) COBOL 74 compatibility, 85 STD FIPS flagging, Dynamic loading, Batch debugging, Interactive debugging COBOL 74 compatibility, 85 STD FIPS flagging, Dynamic loading, Batch debugging, Interactive debugging COBOL 74 compatibility, 85 STD FIPS flagging, Dynamic loading, Batch debugging, Interactive debugging 85 STD FIPS flagging, Dynamic loading, Batch debugging, Interactive debugging

For a complete list of host versions and releases, see the Licensed Program Specifications for Language Environment® and for the compiler that you are using.