Newsletter December 2021

45 Years Delta ADS

Life starts at 40 something: Delta ADS turns 50

Developing software is looking to the future, but sometimes it is good to turn around and look back. As we did, we discovered that the foundations of our products were made almost half a century ago.

The Beginning - 1972 The first Idea

In 1972 Professor Reinhold Thurner, Zürich University, published ‘Entscheidungstabellen: Aufbau, Anwendungen, Programmierung’. He founded the Sodecon AG that implemented his ideas in DETAB/GT (Decision Tables/Generator).

In the beginning, DETAB/GT was able to produce COBOL, PL/I and Fortran and not much later also Assembler.

The Evolution - 1976 ADS was released

Resolving decision tables was only a first step. The idea of generating (slightly) different variants (targets) of programming code from one single source proved a fruitful idea. Over the next years the generator system Delta was developed and released in 1976. The foundation for this development tool is that an application contains a lot of functionality that are just slightly different implementations of each other (File I/O, Screen I/O, Printfiles, reports etc). The generators in Delta contain the abstraction of this implementation with the result that the developer only has to specify the parameters of this specific implementation to be able to get needed functionality.

Besides an increase in productivity (up to three times compared to traditional hand coding, according to some publications) one of the other main advantages is portability. It is that portability that enables software developing companies to sell their products on a number of different platforms without the full developing efforts. It also enables companies to migrate from one platform to another without having to rewrite their applications.

“I am pleased that after almost 50 years, Delta ADS is still being used successfully for the development and migration of large and complex applications.”
Dr. Reinhold Thurner

The concept was very successful: by 1982 there were already 130 installations worldwide and was available for 12 different platforms.

Till today, the majority of installations are found in banking and insurance, governmental institutions and software solution sellers.

The Future - and beyond

Like Delta DETAB, Delta ADS for COBOL and PL/I (as it is officially named today) remains a part of our product portfolio. Over the years an estimated 2+ billion unique lines of code have been generated with our generator system, a number that is still growing each year. Initially, DETAB and Delta ADS were only available for the platforms for which they generated code. Today they are also integrated into modern development environments such as Eclipse or Visual Studio and can generate cross-platform.

As the advantages of this generative approach to software development is still valued by our customers we remain committed to supporting them with our tools. The current release 6 of Delta ADS will certainly not be the last as we will continue to find solutions for the challenges our customers experience in their software development process.

AMELIO Logic Discovery - 'Nicholas'-Release

AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you to (re) understand your large and complex COBOL, PL/I and ADS applications. The two new perspectives “KnowledgeBase” and “CallTree” speeds up this process.

KnowledgeBase – Finding instead of Searching

With the KnowledgeBase perspective, you get an overview of all analysed artifacts at the push of a button. You can quickly and safely find the access to the modules that are relevant for your task.

Furthermore,

• You get analysis information on groups of artifacts as well as on each individual artifact
• You will find out which (code) patterns were found and how often, both for the entire application, for groups of artifacts or just individual artifacts
• You can use the comment function to record findings and make them available to others
• With the bookmarks and tags you get the possibility to mark artifacts of particular interest to find them easier
• With intelligent filter functions, you can simply focus on the artifacts that are relevant to the current task
  
  

Query Technology

The new query technology expands the KnowledgeBase perspective and provides you with exactly the modules that are relevant for your task. In addition to the ready-made queries, you can now easily define your own queries with the query builder.

Overview in the Application Network

One question that always recurs is to identify dependencies in the network of artifacts: Who is calling whom and who is being called by whom? AMELIO Logic Discovery provides that too at the push of a button. The new CallTree perspective is the counterpart to the established ProgramTree perspective. For a program, it shows the other programs from which it is called.

And beyond,

• You receive information about the program interfaces, which parameters are expected and which are actually transferred
• Decision tables show you clearly and unambiguously which conditions must be fulfilled to enable a program to be called.
  
  

Ensure the Success of your Project through optimal Application Analysis with AMELIO Logic Discovery

Do you want to (re) understand your application, carry out a migration or modernization project?
Or get rid of technical debt from your applications?

AMELIO Logic Discovery helps you with this and automatically provides all the information you need. Try it.

You can find more information about AMELIO Logic Discovery on our website ... or just contact us directly.

Also read ... 

SVA Mainframe Dayz 2021

SVA Mainframe Dayz 2023

In March 2023, the focus will be on the mainframe again!
A variety of presentations, exciting discussions and, above all, lots of field reports from the world of the mainframe await you on March 7th and 8th, 2023 at the Mainframe Dayz in Wiesbaden.

Delta Software Technology is represented with a lecture. On March 7th, 2023 at 1:15 p.m., Dr. Daniela Schilling presents:

"Automated Application Cleanup: Using the Washing Machine for Software"

Be there and take the opportunity to present yourself with your colleagues and to shed light on current topics.

Further information such as the agenda and registration can be found here: https://www.sva.de/de/mainframedayz2023

Also read about this:

SVA Mainframe Dayz 2022

From March 9th to 10th, 2022 we were at the SVA Mainframe Dayz 2022 in Wiesbaden, Germany!

Delta Software Technology were present with a booth and presentation. On March 9th, 2022 at 2:30 p.m., Dr. Daniela Schilling:

"Successful Automatic Database Migration at Gothaer: In Time - In Budget - In Scope"

You could not attend? Here you can request the presentation slides.
Only available in German. If you are interested in an English version, please contact us directly.

In a monthly event series, the Mainframe SpeakZ, SVA again gave the mainframe a voice. With a diverse mix of customer presentations, industry news, tool updates, and more, SVA keeps you up to date on all things mainframe.

Delta Software Technology was there with a presentation:

"Application modernisation according to your requirements, parallel to ongoing operation"

Dr. Daniela Schilling (CEO Delta Software Technology) explained sticking points and pitfalls in large modernization projects and showed solutions based on a large project at a leading German insurance company.

Contents

The foundation of business-critical applications has often evolved over decades. During this time, the applications were changed and further developed. New technologies were introduced, partly without completely removing the old technologies.

Modernisations such as clean-up, refactoring, technology exchange and standardisation as well as platform migration are necessary to meet new requirements, improve performance and maintainability, and increase the sustainability of the backend applications.

The documentation of the applications and the knowledge about what was implemented and why it was implemented that way has been lost over time.

• So, how do you regain the required implementation knowledge?
• What do you do with the dependencies?
• What about the risks?
• How do you find all the sticking points?
• How do you organise parallel changes and further development?
• What must be tested?
• How do you securely manage (testing) efforts, costs and risks?
• ...

The solution lies in the precisely targeted analysis prior to a modernisation project, the complete automation of the changes and the flexible organisation of the project processes.

Referencing a large project at a leading German insurance company, we show you how you can safely and reliably carry out a complex modernisation of your applications in parallel to ongoing operation in the mainframe area.

Slides and Recording

You could not attend? Here you can request the presentation slides and watch the recording.
Only available in German. If you are interested in an English version, please contact us directly.

The Best Environment for Your Application Development

Innovating, implementing better solutions, finding errors faster, getting more value out of what you have:
All this requires a working environment that supports you in your daily work and that you feel comfortable with.

Do you or your teams develop applications with Delta ADS? In COBOL? In PL/I?

We would like to know from you which development environment do you prefer?
Which one do you use and which one would you like?

Thank you for participating in our quick survey.