[Cobolforgcc-devel] Re: [Tiny-cobol-users] Re: COBOL utilities project

[Stephen B. <st...@cf...>]

On June 15, 2002 1:16 PM
"David Essex" <de...@ar...> wrote:


<snip>
>
> Berkeley DB maybe overkill, and ISAM maybe a 1970's concept,
> but unfortunately there are no free nor open source implementation
> of ISAM.
>
> This has been one of the killer problems in many open source
> COBOL projects.
>
> MySQL used a version of ISAM, but recently they converted to
> DB for the low level structures.
>
> So AFIK, DB is the only choice available.
>
> The closest implementation of VS*M on UN*X is C-IS*M, which by
> the way is now owned by I*M.
>
> What I would to see is an OpenISAM project with the following criteria.
> - XOpen ISAM standard conformity.
> - Low level concurrence file locking.
>
> If there are any volunteers who would like to work on this project,
> then the project is all your.
>
> David Essex

MyISAM is still the standard filesystem used with MySQL.
I use myisam extensively in my Cobol interface. It is fast and multi-user.
I see only these difficulties with myisam:
1. The only documentation is what I wrote. It is not complete.
2. It does not support row-level locking. Instead, when rewriting, you
provide a copy of the before buffer, and it checks the record has not been
changed since then.
3. I found a couple of bugs in my usage. Either there are some bugs, or I
was not using it properly - but see #1.
4. Monty Widenius is the only programmer who fully understands myisam.

I am seeking a reliable, affordable Cobol. It is very encouraging to me that
these three Cobol compiler teams are cooperating.

Stephen, Sydney