Review of the Webinar held on June 17, 2026: 50 Years Delta ADS
“Longevity” is a buzzword that refers to a long life - and, related with that, a healthy life.
It’s not often that this term is associated with software. But there is one application that’s turning half a century old: Delta ADS.
One might be quick to assume that it is completely outdated. With ADS, that is definitely not the case. Since its initial release, ADS has undergone countless innovations and updates. In its current version, 6.6.9, it meets all the requirements of today’s technologies.
At the start of the webinar, our CEO, Dr. Daniela Schilling, provided a comprehensive overview and highlighted key milestones such as platform independence and improvements driven by customer needs. She explained enhancements in ADS 6 that improve the code’s readability, maintainability and scalability, including a macro source optimizer and the removal of parameter limits.
At a glance:
- ADS 6 is downward compatible with version 4.x and focuses on improving code readability.
- The new macro syntax enables named parameters and free-form formatting with indentation.
- A macro source optimizer automates the code formatting to improve maintainability.
- Parameter limits have been significantly increased; for example, the number of local parameters per macro has been raised to 2,500.
- The nesting depth for macros has been increased from 10 to 50, and the number of code lines per module from 400 to 1,000.
- The code generation now offers options to reduce GOTO statements and improve readability.
- The optimizations include the generation of IF and SELECT CASE statements using newer syntax standards.
- Customers can selectively enable these options to avoid a mandatory full regeneration.
- The improved code is shorter and easier to read, which helps developers with maintenance.
- This represents a paradigm change in the handling of generated code in ADS.
Integration with Modern Development Environments
To bridge the gap between ADS and modern development workflows, the team has developed ADS plugins - including plugins for Eclipse and Visual Studio - named Delta IDS. These plugins offer intelligent code editors, integrated generation processes, and debugging tools that enable developers to work in familiar environments. The integration supports features such as error highlighting, direct navigation to code issues and post-generation analysis to trace the origins of the code.
- ADS plugins are available for Eclipse and Visual Studio and support modern IDE features.
- Developers can generate code, view errors, and navigate directly to problematic lines within the IDE.
- Post-generation debugging tools allow you to trace generated code back to source macros and parameters.
- The integration supports the call of sources via FTP or other URLs.
- These tools improve the developer productivity and reduce context change.
Live Demonstration of ADS on Eclipse
Our chief architect, Mr. Martin Herbst, presented a live demo showcasing the ADS plugin for Eclipse. He demonstrated project navigation, code editing with syntax highlighting and folding, error detection and the impact of the macro source optimizer on code readability. He also highlighted the post-generation debugger, which records macro performance and enables detailed inspection of the code generation flow, parameter values and call stacks. This provides an efficient debugging and maintenance.
- Demo of the Project Explorer and Editor features of the ADS Eclipse plugin.
- He demonstrated error lists and direct navigation to source code errors.
- The macro source optimizer improves code indentation and parameter naming for better readability.
- The post-generation debugger records macro performance and highlights executed code paths.
- Users can navigate call stacks and inspect parameter values to understand code generation.
Future Developments and Customer Engagement
Daniela Schilling outlined current and future development plans, including support for new COBOL dialects such as P3/COBOL and modern databases such as PostgreSQL. The team examines object-oriented goals beyond COBOL and PL/I. The focus is on customer-driven development, which encourages users to communicate their needs and challenges to guide future improvements. A release date for Version 7 has not yet been set.
- New goals include support for P3/COBOL and PostgreSQL databases.
- Work is underway to enable object-oriented code generation beyond traditional languages.
- Development is heavily customer-driven, with feedback determining priorities.
- Version 7 has not yet been planned or scheduled.
- The team invites customers to share their requirements and issues so we can work together to find solutions.
The team emphasizes ongoing development efforts, including support for new COBOL dialects and databases, as well as plans for object-oriented code generation—which were all driven by customer feedback.
The pipeline for even more functionality is in place, and we warmly invite you to share your requirements with us. We are looking forward to the next 50 years!
Were you unable to attend?
No problem. If you are interested in getting the presented information, please contact us directly.
Some Success Stories:
YOUPLUS Unifies its Development Environment and Updates Delta ADS
A modern development environment was the goal for the software developers of YOUPLUS Assurance Schweiz AG. Together with Delta Software Technology, the previous development environment was replaced by ADS on Eclipse and at the same time the generator system Delta ADS for COBOL was updated.
More here:
https://delta-software.com/link.php?en=6353
Bedag Relies on Delta ADS on Visual Studio
A uniform process control and development environment for the different programming languages is the goal of many enterprises. Bedag Informatik AG (Bedag) has mastered this step, it unifies its development processes and thus ensures a more efficient and future-proof application development.
More here:
https://delta-software.com/link.php?en=6291
Aquila Heywood introduces ADS on Eclipse
Aquila Heywood improves its Delta ADS software development by moving to Eclipse and Update to Delta ADS 6.
More here:
https://delta-software.com/link.php?en=6301
B+S Improves Efficiency of Software Development with ADS 6
B+S Banksysteme AG (B+S) has one of the largest application systems that has been developed with Delta tools. In April 2012 B+S started to introduce the pre-release of Delta ADS 6 in order to again increase the efficiency and quality of their software development and maintenance.
More here:
https://delta-software.com/link.php?en=6201