Cobol -> Ruby Transpiler

Transpiler to convert Cobol into Ruby.

Aims

• Create a ruby DSL which looks and feels familiar to a Cobol developer
• Emulate cobol display logic, providing hooks to convert transpiled code into a web app.
• Emulate File Descriptor sections, providing hooks to save to a database or file

Source Cobol code:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. MY_PROG.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 CONTEXT.
  02 NAME PIC X(10).
  02 ADDRESS.
  03 ADDRESS1 PIC X(10).
  03 ADDRESS2 PIC X(10).
  03 ADDRESS3 PIC X(10).
  03 POSTCODE PIC X(10).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
MAIN-PROCEDURE.
  DISPLAY "What is your name? "
  ACCEPT NAME
  DISPLAY CONTEXT
END PROGRAM MY_PROG.

Target Ruby code:

IDENTIFICATION :DIVISION {
  PROGRAM-ID "MY_PROG"
}
WORK_STORAGE :SECTION {
  NN :CONTEXT {
    NN :NAME, :PIC => "X(10)" 
    NN :ADDRESS  {
    NN :ADDRESS1, :PIC => "X(10)" 
    NN :ADDRESS2, :PIC => "X(10)" 
    NN :ADDRESS3, :PIC => "X(10)" 
    NN :POSTCODE, :PIC => "X(8)" 
  }
}  
PROCEDURE :DIVISION {
  PROC :MAIN_PROCEDURE {
    DISPLAY "What is your name? "
    ACCEPT :NAME
    DISPLAY :CONTEXT
  }
}

Cobol resources:

http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/

JCL tutorial

Mainframe emulator which can run JCL

OpenCobolIDE github

Download OpenCobolIDE

The IDE works really well. It has syntax checking, and a built in list of key words.