What is it about?
Many companies and organisations still rely on very old computer programs written in languages like COBOL — especially in banking and government. However, it’s hard for these old programs to communicate with newer systems written in modern languages like C. Our work presents a tool called "Crossover" that acts as a translator, allowing programs written in COBOL language and other programs written in C, to work together seamlessly. This helps organisations continue using their reliable legacy systems while also taking advantage of modern technology, without needing to completely rewrite everything from scratch.
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Why is it important?
What makes our work unique is that, unlike previous solutions that are often hidden inside expensive or proprietary systems, our Crossover is open-source and designed as a clear blueprint for bridging the gap between old and new programming languages. As the shortage of developers familiar with legacy systems grows, and as the need to modernize increases, our approach offers a practical and accessible way to connect legacy COBOL code with modern C programs. This can help reduce both costs and risks for organisations that rely on critical old software, making modernization efforts smoother and more flexible.
Perspectives
I like different software languages, so it is exciting to see two very different ones — COBOL and C — working together in a somewhat smooth way. Funnily enough, C is not perceived as a legacy language even though it is 53 years old, pretty comparable to 66 year old COBOL. For me, both are examples of old-fashioned language design, motivated by technologies and realities of a distance past.
Vadim Zaytsev
Universiteit Twente
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Crossover: Towards Compiler-Enabled COBOL-C Interoperability, October 2023, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3624007.3624055.
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