Compiler

Overview

The job of any compiler is to convert human-readable source code to an object that a computer can run. To accomplish this, isCOBOL performs two steps: the COBOL source code is translated to a Java source code, then the Java source code is converted to a Java class.

For a standard COBOL program compiled without particular options, a single class file is generated. The name of this class file is always upper-case and matches the source file name. There are situations in which more than one class file is generated.

•	If the -d compiler option is used, a class file called program$Debug$Infos is generated in addition to the program class file.

•	If the source code contains PERFORM THREAD statements, a class file for each thread is generated in addition to the program class file. These classes are named using a progressive number (program$1, program$2, ..., etc).

•	If the program is object-oriented, a class file for each method is generated in addition to the program class. These classes are named using the method name (i.e. program$method).

•	If the source contains SEARCH statements, a class for each SEARCH is generated in addition to the program class. These classes are named using a progressive number (program$1, program$2, ..., etc).

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If the -big compiler option is used, some class files are generated in addition to the program class file. These classes are named using the program name, the “inner” and “CONST” keywords, and progressive numbers. The –big behavior can be configured by the iscobol.compiler.max_constants and iscobol.compiler.max_paragraphs properties.

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If the program contains ESQL statements with more than 700 host variables, additonal classes are generated (each containing a maximum of 700 variables). These classes are named using a progressive number (program$1, program$2, ..., etc). This behavior can be configured by the iscobol.compiler.max_hostvars property.

•	If the source code contains SORT-RETURN and/or SORT-MESSAGE special registers, two additional classes are generated. The classes are named program$SortAbort and program$1.

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If the source code contains OCCURS statements or object invocation in the SCREEN SECTION, a class file for each occurrence and each object invocation are generated in addition to the program class file. These classes are named using a progressive number (program$1, program$2, ..., etc.). If the OCCURS statement appears in the LINKAGE SECTION, a class of each occurrence is always generated. If the OCCURS statement appears in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, a class for each occurrence is generated only if the index is variable.

•	If the Screen Section contains dynamic values due to LENGTH OF, object invokation or FUNCTION syntaxes, an additional class for each one of these values is generated. The classes are named using a progressive number (program$1, program$2, ..., etc).

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If the Screen Section contains control properties associated with referenced variables, for example: VALUE W-VALUE (offs:len) and offs or len are data-items (not constant values), then an additional class for each one of these cases is generated. The classes are named using a progressive number (program$1, program$2, ..., etc). If the referenced variable appears in the LINKAGE SECTION, a class of each occurence is always generated. If the referenced variable appears in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, a class for each occurrence is generated only if offs or len are variables.

The command to execute the compiler is:

iscc Options SourceCode

Note: On Windows this command should be launched from inside the isCOBOL Shell. Otherwise you need to set the ISCOBOL and ISCOBOL_JDK_ROOT environment variables before using iscc.

Compiling multiple source files at once

The isCOBOL compiler supports the * wildcard in the SourceCode parameter.

For example, the following compilations:

iscc prog1.cbl iscc prog2.cbl iscc prog3.cbl iscc prog4.cbl

can be done all at once with the command:

iscc prog*.cbl

Exit status

The Compiler returns 0 if the compilation is OK and a number greater than 0 if it fails due to severe errors. When you compile multiple source files at once, if any of these files produce severe errors, then the return code will be greater than zero.