Member Avatar for gunbuster363

I have to learn cobol
but my acc in openVMS have no yet opened

Does anyone know any windows software (like visual studio) which can write and compile and run cobol program?
I know what to write some easy program now.

Thanks in advance

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by TrustyTony

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For : the easiest free route is GnuCOBOL (formerly OpenCOBOL) — a maintained compiler that translates COBOL into C and then uses a native C toolchain to produce executables. For a simple editor/IDE that plugs into GnuCOBOL, OpenCobolIDE is a lightweight option. These two together let you write, compile and run most learning examples on a PC without requiring commercial software. (github.com)

If you want to try on Windows first, prebuilt Windows sources/binaries are published on the official GNU gnucobol area; once installed the driver is cobc (the compile/run driver). A minimal workflow is: save hello.cob, then run the compiler, for example: 

cobc -x hello.cob

Remember GnuCOBOL needs a C compiler available (MSVC or GCC/MinGW). If you get linker or C errors, the C toolchain or PATH is the likely problem. (ftp.gnu.org)

As suggested, virtualization is a reliable fallback: run a small Linux VM and install the distro package there, or use an XP/older Windows VM if necessary. Be aware Vista is end-of-support (April 11, 2017) and modern VirtualBox releases dropped Vista host support in later versions, so either run an older VM host that still supports Vista or better, use a different/updated host. That makes the environment safer and easier to maintain. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick troubleshooting checklist: run cobc --version to confirm install, verify a C compiler (try gcc --version or MSVC build tools), and start with console programs before adding indexed files or ISAM features (those require extra libraries). For enterprise or Visual Studio–style tooling, commercial products (Micro Focus, etc.) are the alternative mentioned by , but for learning GnuCOBOL + OpenCobolIDE or a Linux VM is usually faster.

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Member Avatar for gunbuster363

The software should be free for download.......

Member Avatar for Rashakil Fol

I have to learn cobol

Haha.

Member Avatar for binoy.jayan

You can find a couple of COBOL compilers at

If none of them works in VISTA, you can try installing WinXP/Linux/DOS inside VISTA using any Virtualisation software like VMWare Workstation/Virtual Box

Member Avatar for TrustyTony

I found some links were out of date.

This looks promising instead:
http://www.microfocus.com/products/micro-focus-developer/extend/ACUCOBOLGT.aspx

acucobol-gt-version-8_tcm6-1132.pdf (840.38 KB)
Edited by TrustyTony because: n/a
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