News - Press Release - October 1997

News - Press Release - July 2008

ANNOUNCING c/XDC^™!

AFTON, Va. , July 23, 2008/ -- Cole Software^® is pleased to announce a new product that extends its debugging technology to IBM^®'s implementations of C and C++. This new product will be called the "c/XDC Feature".

Technical overview

The c/XDC Feature is packaged as a set of add-on capabilities to Cole Software's^® existing z/XDC product. c/XDC includes:

The ability to show C/C++ source code statements when displaying the storage in which a C/C++ program resides;
The ability to display C/C++ variables, arrays and data structures, formatted according to their defined data types;
The ability to set breakpoints into C/C++ programs at (or between) statement boundaries;
The ability to step through C/C++ programs statement by statement;
the ability to step into, out of, and over C/C++ subroutines.

Briefly, the c/XDC Feature affects the following existing and new z/XDC commands:

The CMAP command

The c/XDC Feature builds C source statement maps from DWARF data.

To generate a DWARF file, the programmer adds a DEBUG parameter to the PARM field of the C program compilation step and also adds a //SYSCDBG DD card pointing to an FB-80 output file. Then when a MAP command is issued, a source image map is automatically built using information provided from the program object and the DWARF file.

The FORMAT command

When the FORMAT command is issued against storage containing a mapped C or C++ program, the program source statements are automatically displayed.

The LIST VARIABLES command

This new command displays C variables, arrays and structures, or parts thereof. Briefly, its syntax is:

LIST VARIABLES variablename variablename ... [depth]

where: variablenames are the names of the C/C++ variables to be displayed,

Depth is optional. It can be used to limit the depth to which a structure variable is displayed.

The STEP command

This new command functions similarly to z/XDCs TRACE command, but while the TRACE command is machine instruction oriented, the STEP command is source statement oriented. It can be used in the following ways:

STEP, or STEP INTO

Allows the current C/C++ statement to execute. Execution stops at the next statement. Calls into mapped C subroutines and functions are followed. Calls into unmapped code are not followed.

STEP OVER

If the current statement calls a subroutine or function, then it is allowed to run. Upon return, execution is recaptured and the statement following the call statement is displayed.

STEP OUT

If execution is within a subroutine or function, then it is allowed to run to completion and execution stops in the calling routine at the first statement following the calling statement.

Technical requirements

The c/XDC Feature requires z/XDC Release z1.10. It also requires IBM z/OS V1R7 or later, and must have certain C-related fixes from IBM applied.

Availability

Cole Software^® is currently in the final phases of product testing, and expects soon to be able to ship beta test copies of the c/XDC Feature to existing z/XDC customers. A general availability date has not yet been set.

Use of c/XDC will be free during the beta test period.

Marketing information

Upon general availability, c/XDC will be marketed to both new and existing customers as a separately priced, add-on feature to Cole Software's^® existing z/XDC product. Complete pricing information will be made available prior to General Availability. However, prospective customers can expect Cole Software^® to adhere to the following general concepts and policies.

The current z/XDC product will be divided into separately purchasable features that will be individually priced at a level that is consistent with z/XDCs current pricing.

c/XDC will be priced as a new feature that can be leased either in addition to or in place of certain of z/XDC's^® existing features.

Cole Software^® will continue to license its debugging technologies via annually renewable term leases based upon concurrent usage levels, and subject to certain minimums.

This usage-based pricing will continue to be unrelated to a customers machine capacity. There will be no machine based upgrade fees or transfer fees or site licensing fees. Customers may continue to put z/XDC and its features on any or all machines within a SYSPLEX without incurring additional fees.

Further pricing information will be announced as it becomes available.

Acknowledgement

Cole Software^® wishes to congratulate Development Programmer Bradley Snyder for contributing one and a half years of concentrated effort into building the c/XDC Feature for us. Brad has worked tirelessly and diligently to create something that is unique in the software industry, something our customers have requested repeatedly..

Thanks, Brad! We appreciate all you're doing for Cole Software^®.