Chapter 11 - Model-Driven Reverse Engineering of COBOL-Based Applications

Abstract

Model-driven development (MDD) is a proven paradigm for constructing cost-effective applications. The MDD design cycle promotes software quality, reusability, and maintainability. Models, which are first-class components in the development process, also facilitate portability. MDD is a promising technology to build large-scale applications from scratch, but the challenge of transforming legacy code into models stumbles over the heterogeneity of old systems. The proposed approach in this chapter benefited from the preexisting structuring of COBOL code and some associated environmental information, such as configuration parameters, based on VAP. This chapter explores how platform-independent models (PIMs) can be automatically generated from legacy systems with a focus on COBOL applications. It also discusses a method and a tool that provides an integrated, reverse engineering framework. To illustrate this method, a pilot project called SCAFRUITS is presented. The goal of this project was to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of reverse engineering based on MDD. The SCAFRUITS case study project demonstrates the technical feasibility of application modernization. It illustrates that it is possible to produce an application that is functionally equivalent to a given PACBASE application. This is successfully accomplished using models that provide pivot representations of a system. The tool used to achieve this project is named BLU AGE®,3, which has the ability to generate applications from models without writing a single line of code.