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Acubench... the worst editor ever

  • March 20, 2018
  • 16 replies
  • 0 views
Antonio Donato

I want to discuss about Acubench.

How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

 

Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

;)

 

Antonio

 

Antonio Donato

Studiofarma S.r.l.

CGM Group


#runtime
#AcuCobol
#acubench

    16 replies

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    Wow. You like intellisense? I find it annoying. I like command technology's SPFPC better. VI on linux too. I used to write my acubench logic in vi then use copy statement to include it in acubench. Same with my working storage variables. Of course, I wrote a lot of the cobol in vi and spfpc on the linux machine. We used the screen section and didn't use acubench for the screens for most of our AcuCobol-GT programs. With facetwin, we were able to code from windows machine onto linux servers.
    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    Wow. You like intellisense? I find it annoying. I like command technology's SPFPC better. VI on linux too. I used to write my acubench logic in vi then use copy statement to include it in acubench. Same with my working storage variables. Of course, I wrote a lot of the cobol in vi and spfpc on the linux machine. We used the screen section and didn't use acubench for the screens for most of our AcuCobol-GT programs. With facetwin, we were able to code from windows machine onto linux servers.
    Antonio Donato
    • Antonio Donato
    • Author
    • Participating Frequently
    • March 20, 2018

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    I never said that I like intellisense, but for sure it works a lot better than the trash intelli-like integrated inside acubench.
    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench

    Using CobolSTF Visual Studio Code extension has been a key turning point in our day by day development life. I think i can say that it doubled our code speed, as it combines state of art IDE features like intellisense and code inspection with the easy and flexibility of use of a modern IDE as Visual Studio Code is. Developing Cobol in VSCode with CobolSTF extension makes C# development in standard Visual Studio feel like and old aged development environment.

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    Antonio,
    What version of AcuBench are you using?
    Note that AcuBench was completely rewritten in version 10.0.0 in order to support newer Windows versions moving forward. We are aware that there were a number of issues which have been subsequently resolved.
    I highly recommend that you contact your Micro Focus account manager to obtain AcuBench 10.2.0 which will be released next Wednesday, March 28.
    Let us know how that goes.
    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    I would say that a large number of the bugs (there were a LARGE number that we learned to work through) that we had seen in versions less than 10 were fixed in 10. AcuBench still has it's quirks, but it has gotten a good bit better.

    The one huge thing that I would love to see done differently in the future is a new/better format chosen for report design like RDL, something more standard than HTML for printed documents.
    Antonio Donato
    • Antonio Donato
    • Author
    • Participating Frequently
    • March 23, 2018

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    Atm we are using the versione 10.1.1.

    Honestly, we are here in 15 developers, we changed editor with VS Code and we have so many advantages from that (i forgot to say about the Git integration) I don't think we are going to come back. We will continue to use Acubench only to generate .scr screen copy.

    I said in the main post. Our job is write code. Spend some time finding bugs that stops our work with on an editor is not acceptable. I know that people in Microfocus do their best to give us always a better product, but you have to understand our point of view.

    My post is not made to open a flame, but only to let the people know that we have a valid alternative to speed up our job.

    Anyway, We will try for sure the new version 10.2.0 ;)

    Thank you.
    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench

    Dear DougP, thank you for your reply. Actually what i was talking about is not about bugs... honestly i never considered acubench bugs so serious to block my daily work. What i was talking about is a completely different user experience! Vs Code is a totally new generation of IDE, so different that under certain constraints also state-of-art IDEs like Visual Studio or IntelliJ (not to mention Eclipse) may look old.

    In my opinion there exist no fix or implementation that can level Acubench to get this kind of feeling when you use it, as it was conceived in completely different era and under a completely different vision.

    I want to issue a challenge on you (Microfocus stakeholders); what about considering to develop a plugin to a modern IDE like VS Code (please don't waste your time on standard Visual Studio or similar), or why not, to extend our CobolSTF plugin maybe integrating a Screen designer instead of focus your resources on a dead man walking like Acubench? Let it die with honor :); it did a very good job in the past but now its time has come.

    Sincerely,
    Luca

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench

    Dear DougP, thank you for your reply. Actually what i was talking about is not about bugs... honestly i never considered acubench bugs so serious to block my daily work. What i was talking about is a completely different user experience! Vs Code is a totally new generation of IDE, so different that under certain constraints also state-of-art IDEs like Visual Studio or IntelliJ (not to mention Eclipse) may look old.

    In my opinion there exist no fix or implementation that can level Acubench to get this kind of feeling when you use it, as it was conceived in completely different era and under a completely different vision.

    I want to issue a challenge on you (Microfocus stakeholders); what about considering to develop a plugin to a modern IDE like VS Code (please don't waste your time on standard Visual Studio or similar), or why not, to extend our CobolSTF plugin maybe integrating a Screen designer instead of focus your resources on a dead man walking like Acubench? Let it die with honor :); it did a very good job in the past but now its time has come.

    Sincerely,
    Luca

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    I'm glad you like VS Code. Not everyone does, and we can't set product direction based on the opinion of a single user, however enthusiastic.

    MF COBOL already has Visual Studio and Eclipse integration. That's what the market wanted, and continues to demand, so it was not a waste of time. If we hear widespread desire for VS Code integration, I'm sure we'll do that.

    (And it's "Micro Focus". Two words.)
    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench

    Michael, thank you for your reply.

    We are actually 14 developers happily and actively using Vs Code with CobolSTF; our extension has 1918 downloads while the original Cobol Vs Code from which we forked has >15000 downloads. Please have a look here https://goo.gl/97gZnC

    We know about MF Cobol extensions for Visual studio and Eclipse (we also know that runs on a totally different runtime from the original MF Cobol, that could be a problem to distribute if you have 13000 desktop installation all around the Italy), however unfortunately our 20 year old main product is written in AcuCobol, the unlucky cousin of MF Cobol for which no VS or eclipse extension there exist as far as we know.

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench

    The number of people using VS Code for COBOL is irrelevant (or at best only tangentially relevant) to my point. Again, as with any product feature, whether we include it in the direction of one or more of the COBOL products depends on market demand, other priorities, and available resources - just as it should.

    Visual COBOL does not "run on a totally different runtime from the original MF COBOL", unless you're referring to an extremely old version of MF COBOL. Obviously, if you move from native to managed COBOL, you'll switch to a different implementation of the runtime; but Visual COBOL continues to support native code, and the native and managed runtimes are functionally very similar.

    I'd hardly call ACUCOBOL "unlucky", since it continues to be actively developed - a new extend release was just announced. And MF COBOL supports much of the ACU syntax and extensions.

    There may well be in-product integration with VS Code for ACUCOBOL or Visual COBOL in the future, and there has already been further refinement of the open-source VS Code plugin for COBOL. I have no argument with that. I'm simply pointing out that it's rather presumptuous to assume your preferences are shared by all customers.

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    I never thought I would see a religious, IDE war on this forum...

    I use both products - AcuBench and VS Code. They both have their strengths and weaknesses as do any IDEs and editors out there. I just use the one that fits what I am working on at the time that I am working on that thing.

    What about an editor as awesome and extensible as Sublime Text? What about Netbeans? What about...?

    This whole post is reminiscent of the vim/emacs debate. The flames are bright and shiny. People should use what works for them, plain and simple.

    Also, our company uses AcuCOBOL and has for many years. I would hardly consider us "unlucky" - quite the opposite, honestly.
    Antonio Donato
    • Antonio Donato
    • Author
    • Participating Frequently
    • March 28, 2018

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench

    It was not my intention to make flame.

    For me it's just a simple discussion and i like to know and I respect the opinion of all the people about this argument.

    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    The only thing is that when you titled the post "Acubench... the worst editor ever" and then spouted off about the "mass of bugs", it invited a flame war.

    I just think that this whole thing could have been framed a bit more diplomatically and objectively is all.
    D

    I want to discuss about Acubench.

    How can be an editor a mass of bugs like this.

    When there is a new release, we spend more time to find bug than write code.

    Honestly our work is write code. We cannot spend time to wait for a bug fix for an editor.

     

    Said that, we decided to invest a little part of our time to find a different way.

    We tried Visual Studio Code. Bingo! We found our best editor to easily write Cobol, helped also by intellisense, compile and more.

    To help our self, we also deployed an extension called CobolSTF for VS Code (now published for all), that help us to our job; we created snippets and so on.

    VS Code is easy to configure and let us personalize the editor with extraordinary freedom.

    We still use Acubench to design screen... but this is our next challenge.

    ;)

     

    Antonio

     

    Antonio Donato

    Studiofarma S.r.l.

    CGM Group


    #runtime
    #AcuCobol
    #acubench
    The only thing is that when you titled the post "Acubench... the worst editor ever" and then spouted off about the "mass of bugs", it invited a flame war.

    I just think that this whole thing could have been framed a bit more diplomatically and objectively is all.

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