Three COBOL Products
From "Special Report (sidebar)",  Access to Wang, May 1994
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These three products exemplify the range of choices you have in selecting a COBOL environment.

• Acucobol (Acucobol, Inc.) represents a small, simple environment that works best when you have already selected an editor and other tools. It is available for a large number of platforms, including many Unix variants, Windows, MS-DOS, VMS, and Netware. It compiles to an intermediate code which may be moved to any of the supported platforms without recompiling. The debugger is built into the run- time system and accomplishes most of what VS users will expect, including single-stepping, review of the contents of variables, and traps.

• RM/COBOL (Liant, Inc.) is an interpretive compiler like Acucobol and is available for Unix, MS-DOS, and Windows. Besides the compiler, several souce code tools are available, including an editor, change control tracking system, and project management system.

• Micro Focus COBOL (Micro Focus, Ltd.) is available for MS- DOS, Windows, Unix, and VMS. It produces "native" executable files but requires a compiler for each target platform. Many tools are available for Micro Focus, including a powerful debugger, screen painters, and report tools.