Ralph Linkletter

Hey Mickey can you post this as a comment to a post I made on LinkedIn? Url below: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ralph-linkletter-0a1a6218b_ai-driven-mainframe-migrations-a-truthful-activity-7452777690849439744-wrlP?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACzUG_kBgHDzwjeXOhYmzGBLqRK7rRNH8Bo Also consider the longer Claude analysis that you emailed to me. It seems inappropriate for me to post these as comment to my own post - agreed ?

April 21, 2026 "Claude AI - COBOL" and rescuing the IBM mainframe. What nonsense! What is the source of this "magical thinking / wishful thinking”? "Mainframe”, in this document is defined as IBM zOS. The Linux / Unix operating systems running under zOS are not considered to be "Mainframe". Take a peek at why this Claude rescue is nonsensical. Linux and Windows are the target operating systems of mainframe migrations. This is a tiny slice of an actual mainframe VSAM data file. See attachment As an...

"BINARY = COMP " Which COMP ? big or little endian ? "BINARY-CHAR, BINARY-SHORT, BINARY-LONG . . . Where did this syntax originate? All the above are little endian How confusing can it be made ? BINARY with a PICTURE CLAUSE is big endian BINARY-xxxxx without a PICTURE CLAUSE is little endian COMP-5 on zOS is big endian that infers implicitly NOTRUNC The screen shots are from AI ? Is there a "C" data type for big endian ? The screen shots identify the big endian formats as int / uint with scalar -...

"BINARY = COMP " Which COMP ? big or little endian ? "BINARY-CHAR, BINARY-SHORT, BINARY-LONG . . . Where did this syntax originate? All the above are little endian How confusing can it be made ? BINARY with a PICTURE CLAUSE is big endian BINARY-xxxxx without a PICTURE CLAUSE is little endian COMP-5 on zOS is big endian that infers implicitly NOTRUNC The screen shots are from AI ? Is there a "C" data type for big endian ? The screen shots identify the big endian formats as int / uint with scalar -...

COMP-5 and "COMP / COMP- 4 " have the same "C" typing ? COMP / COMP-4 are big endian - is there such a "C" type representing big endian ? I do not understand BINARY-CHAR (signed or unsigned) I guess it would be PIC 9(02) COMP-X. If so a compile would need -fbinary-size=1-8 PIC X(01) COMP-X If I recall correctly there is zOS BINARY as well. This BINARY form has no suffix - "-SHORT for example" The zOS form of binary is big endian. The above BINARY form is not provided for in any table on this thread....

COMP-5 and "COMP / COMP- 4 " have the same "C" typing ? COMP / COMP-4 are big endian - is there such a "C" type representing big endian ? I do not understand BINARY-CHAR (signed or unsigned) I guess it would be PIC 9(02) COMP-X. If so a compile would need -fbinary-size=1-8 PIC X(01) COMP-X If I recall correctly there is zOS BINARY as well. This BINARY form has no suffix - "-SHORT for example" The zOS form of binary is big endian. The above BINARY form is not provided for in any table on this thread....

COMP-5 and COMP/COMP- have the same "C" typing ? COMP / COMP-4 are big endian - is there such a "C" type ? I do not understand BINARY-CHAR (signed or unsigned) I guess it would be PIC 9(02) COMP-X. If so a compile would need -fbinary-size=1-8 PIC X(01) COMP-X If I recall correctly there is zOS BINARY as well. This BINARY form has no suffix - "-SHORT for example" The zOS form of binary is big endian. The above BINARY form is not provided for in any table on this thread. IBM COBOL is 90+ % of the universe...

Why was it an intermittent failure ? Should it not have failed all the time ?