Compiler announcements along with the IBM z13

On January 14, 2015, along with the announcement of the new IBM z13, there were also announcements of some new compilers. I give you the links where you can find all the announcement details

• IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V5.2 delivers support for the latest IBM z13 processor architecture (ZP15-0034)
It’s all about the new functionalities I talked about in my previous post on the new IBM z13. IBM gives us the following comment about this new Cobol compiler : “Enterprise COBOL for z/OS V5.2 provides Day1 support for the new z13 processor, using the new Vector Facility for certain COBOL statements, and expanding the use of Decimal Floating Point Facility for Packed Decimal calculations. Enterprise COBOL V5.2 provides significant performance improvements over the GA release of Enterprise COBOL V5.1. “ 

• IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS, V4.5 offers new function and improved performance (ZP15-0015)
The comment for PL/I is almost identical : “Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.5 is enhanced to fully exploit the new z13 architecture. It uses the new Vector Facility to improve code for certain functions and expands the use of Decimal Floating Point Facility for Packed Decimal calculations. Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.5 provides significant performance improvements over Enterprise PL/I V4.4.” 

• New, high-performance IBM XL C/C++ for Linux on z Systems, V1.1 compiler now delivered for Linux on z Systems (ZP15-0005)
  “This is a brand new C/C++ product designed to improve the performance of applications running on Linux on z Systems. XL C/C++ for Linux on z Systems V1.1 runs on RHEL (6 and 7); and SLES (11 and 12). It is based on brand new technologies. This new compiler is built on Clang and advanced IBM optimization framework shipped in IBM Java and Enterprise COBOL V5. This combination not only provides easy migration of C/C++ applications from distributed Linux systems to Linux on z Systems, it also optimizes the performance of applications on IBM z Systems, latest z13.”

The new Vector facility that is mentioned each time is the new SIMD function. There should be a RedPiece about it over here, but for some or other reason I just can't seem to download it. But there's also some information about it in the new Redbook IBM z13 Technical Guide.

The General Availability is even earlier than the new IBM z13 : February 27, 2015 for the COBOL and PL/I compilers and February 16, 2015 for the C/C++ compiler.

Software withdrawal and support discontinuance: IBM System z platform selected products

It's always interesting to browse through the list of softwares that will no longer be supported. Here's a new IBM announcement with a whole list of products : 'Software withdrawal and support discontinuance: IBM System z platform selected products (ZP14-0024)'. Take a look at it, it might point out some softwares you're using.

Let me just indicate some of them that drew my attention.

IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer for DB2® for z/OS, V1.1 will no longer be supported after April 30, 2015. It'll be replaced by IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator for z/OS, V4.1 (5697-DAB).

About operating systems : IBM z/VM 6.2 is an interesting one. There was already an End of Service date fixed on April 30, 2015. This has now been extended until December 31, 2016. IBM z/VSE 4.3.1 will be withdrawn from service on October 31, 2014. So, just a couple of months to go for this one.

Then there's IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS V3.4 (5655-G53). This one is End of Support on April 30, 2015 and it will be replaced by IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS V5.1 (5655-W32). The same goes for IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V3.9 (5655-H31) that will be replaced by IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.4 (5655-W67).

There are more of course. Just take a look for yourself.

PL/I for z/OS V4.4 - new function and improved performance

Here's the PL/I 4.4 announcement : 'IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS , V4.4 offers new function and improved performance (ZP13-0380)'.

Version 4.4 offers

• Improved middleware support for IMS and DB2
• Further exploitation of the zEC12 hardware architecture to help improve performance of the code generated under the ARCH(10) option
• Improved UTF-16 and multithreading support
• Productivity and usability improvements, many of them client requested

Let me, once again, focus on the practical information. The program number is 5655-W67 and general availability is September 6, 2013.

Perhaps the requirements might be interesting too :

Hardware requirements

The Enterprise PL/I for z/OS , V4.4 compiler runs on the following IBM servers:

• zEnterprise® EC12 (zEC12) or zEnterprise BC12 (zBC12)
• zEnterprise 196 or zEnterprise 114
• z10™ Enterprise Class or z10 Business Class
• System z9® Enterprise Class or z9® Business Class

The Enterprise PL/I for z/OS , V4.4 compiler generates code that runs on the following IBM servers:

• zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12) or zEnterprise BC12 (zBC12)
• zEnterprise 196 or zEnterprise 114
• z10 Enterprise Class or z10 Business Class
• System z9 Enterprise Class or z9 Business Class
• zSeries® z990
• zSeries z890

Software requirements

Enterprise PL/I for z/OS , V4.4 runs under the control of, or in conjunction with, the currently supported releases of the following programs and their subsequent releases or their equivalents.

• z/OS V1.13 (5694-A01), or later
• z/OS V2.1 (5650-ZOS), or later

You can find additional information and resources at the PL/I for Z/OS IBM web page over here.

Price Change for Enterprise Cobol V3 and Enterprise PL/I V3

Despite the release date of this announcement, it looks like this is not a joke : 'Price Changes for Enterprise Cobol for z/OS full and alternate functionV3 and Enterprise PL/1 for z/OS full and alternate function V3 (ZA12-1012)'.

Before you read any further : this announcement is NOT for EWLC and AEWLC customers.

We had similar price increases for 'older' products like CICS TS V3 and DB2 V8, so now Cobol and PL/I have to follow. The arguments are the same : IBM has continuously added functionalities to these versions without significant price increases. Now it wants to level the prices with the more recent versions of the products. In the meantime the support for COBOL V3.4 and PL/I V3.9 will continue until at least December 2013.

Average percent increases are shown for 500 MSUs. For Belgian VWLC customers e.g. this means an increase of 8% for Cobol V3 Full Function, 10% for Cobol V3 Alternate Function, 14% for PL/I Full Function and 16% for PL/I Alternate function. The same percentages are given for AWLC customers except that the Cobol V3 Alternate function only increases 6% ?

Check out the announcement for your specific country to see what's valid for you.

Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2

Last week IBM announced Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2 : 'IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2 delivers performance improvements and usability enhancements (ZP11-0427)'.

At a glance

"IBM® Enterprise PL/I for z/OS® V4.2 delivers:

• Additional utilization of the latest IBM zEnterprise™ 196 architecture for improved compiler performance
• Compiler enhancements to improve debugging with IBM Debug Tool
• XML generation for improved web interoperability
• SQL preprocessor and SQL support enhancements
• Productivity improvements, many of them customer-requested"

What I find a bit strange is that there's no mention whatsoever of the z114 ?

Prerequisites : it needs at least z/OS 1.11 or later.
Availability date : September 30, 2011.

IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V3.8

Yesterday, IBM announced PL/I V3.8 : 'IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V3.8 delivers performance improvements and usability enhancements (ZP08-0536)'. It will become available on October 31, 2008 and here's a summary of the new features :

• Hardware exploitation including support for z10 architecture
• Performance improvements
• Support for XML System Services
• Improved SQL support
• Numerous new built-in functions
• Numerous user requirements

However, I would like to draw your attention to something else : just like with Cobol V4 I talked about earlier, this is from now on a compiler only version. Formerly there was an 'alternate' compiler only version and a 'full' version including debugging facilities. I you still want to use the debugging capabilites that were in the full version, IBM suggests you order the 'Debug Tools for z/OS V 9.1 (ZP08-0421)'.

IBM Announcements : PL/I 3.6

New Announcements by IBM are usually made on Tuesday. So you may be expecting to see some announcements pop up on wednesday when thy prove to be interesting for the mainframe world. Yesterday 24/10/2006 a new release of PL/I was announced PL/I V3R6. It will be available on 27/10/2006.
New in V3.6 are :

• DB2 V9 support
• Performance improvements
• Usability enhancements
• Quality improvements
• Serviceability improvements

One prerequisite to pay attention to : z/OS V1.6 (or later) is required.