The Commercial Systems Division's (CSY) plans for HP 3000 languages include a first draft of its native language list for IA-64 systems, one that includes two cutting-edge choices and COBOL, but leaves FORTRAN in compatibility mode.

CSY R&D project manager Randy Roten said the road map for languages to be supported on its next 3000 architecture was “preliminary stuff, our stake in the ground to have people look at and give us feedback on.” HP is still looking for feedback on this first set of choices.

HP confirmed that COBOL and C will be supported when the first IA-64 systems ship in Native Mode — meaning those languages will run with the highest performance available. C++ and Java, two languages that represent future technology for the 3000 customer base, will also be delivered in Native Mode.

“Those are the languages we expect to be the most popular and most used for enterprise development in the future,” Roten said. “They’ll be the most important to our customers.”

“Java is a de-facto standard for new languages,” Roten said. “I don’t think the 3000 could exist without it.” One key HP product that’s written in Java is e-speak, the new e-services language HP released to the public as source code this month. The 3000 division is using Java for middleware, Roten said, and some of the software vendors are beginning to use it. “Over time it’s going to be a very important language for the HP 3000. It already is.”

HP is relying on the GNU freeware C++ today for PA-RISC systems, but CSY hasn’t decided yet if that version will be the one to make the IA-64 cut. One other possibility is the HP-UX C++. “We’ll be working with our customers to understand what meets their needs best. In many cases, when people are porting stuff, the GNU stuff seems to be more compatible [than the HP-UX version].”

FORTRAN and Transact will be supported in dynamically translated mode. Standard PA-RISC compilers that run on today’s HP 3000s will run in this mode on the IA-64 systems, but may sacrifice some speed. It’s too early for HP to say how such translated languages will perform, according to Roten.

“There will be somewhat of a performance difference,” he said. “We don’t know how that will relate to the PA-RISC systems of today.” One possibility is that the compilers running on PA-RISC today might run faster on IA-64 systems, even in translated mode because of the faster hardware.

Manufacturing customers using MANMAN stand to weather the majority of speed sacrifices as of today, since their application is written in FORTRAN. IO-bound applications could well perform better, however, according to Roten, even in translated mode.

“We’ve noticed that a lot of people still highly value the fact that we have offered Compatibility Mode on PA-RISC for so long,” Roten said. “A lot of people are still using it, and have not recompiled to [Native] PA-RISC. It doesn’t seem like performance is that big an issue for all of our customers, although it is for some of them.”

HP hasn’t decided if FORTRAN and Transact will move to Native Mode on the IA-64 systems. Another language whose future is undetermined is Pascal. HP plans to migrate an internal version of the language for its own use in bootstrapping the next MPE, but that language will be without common compiler features like a bounds checker.

CSY is committing to support of two sets of compilers during the crossover period after IA-64 systems are introduced. The division supported two sets of compilers in the late 1980s, when PA-RISC was first introduced, according to CSY Lab Section manager Pam Bennett.

“We learned a lot during that phase, about things to do better and things that went well,” Bennett said. “A lot of those folks are still around the HP 3000 world, and that expertise is going to be leveraged.”

All PA-RISC compilers will run in dynamically translated mode on the new IA-64 systems. But IA-64 compilers will require the new hardware to operate. HP will be certifying versions of the PA-RISC compilers for use on the IA-64 systems, to assist developers in migrating applications and software.

HP had to make changes in some of its compilers when moving them from MPE V to PA-RISC, and Roten said the same kinds of issues could arise in the next transition as well.

Work isn’t underway yet on what HP is calling “trade” compilers, those released to end-user customers and the development community. Engineering is in play to determine run-time architecture of the compilers, planning along with the MPE-IA kernel team.

COBOL plans in flux

CSY has Walter Murray representing the 3000 community on the J4 COBOL 2000 committee, Roten said, and the division is evaluating differing ways to meet customer needs for the language.

“This is a fairly difficult [task], but we’re satisfied we’re going to be able to come up with a good answer for it,” Roten said. However, he said he didn’t know yet if working those COBOL 2000 features into a COBOL for PA-RISC systems was a possible solution.

Some members of the COBOL-using community in the 3000 world are discussing how much they’d be willing to sacrifice to get an improved COBOL out for PA-RISC 3000s. Duane Percox, a member of the MPE Forum user organization, said in a recent Internet posting that customers shouldn’t expect every feature to make the transition to IA-64.

“We must be willing to make the hard choices in order to guarantee the future viability of COBOL on the IA platform. We cannot expect HP to continue to roll forward 25-plus years of technology as they move forward. There comes a point where you have to sacrifice the old to make resources available for the new.”

The chair of the COBOL Special Interest Group Jeanette Nutsford pressed the point about improvements to the PA-RISC COBOL in a subsequent message. “If object oriented structures were to be available in COBOL for the HP 3000, would you accept that they may only be available in the IA native COBOL compiler? Please note Duane’s point — realize that this would be a major, major enhancement if it was to be added to the current HP COBOL II compiler.”

Another issue to consider is how much COBOL will be supported on the newest systems. Compatibility Mode COBOL, originally written for the Classic MPE V HP 3000s, is still running in some modules of Carter-Pertaine applications for the K-12 education marketplace. HP recently identified this company as an early recipient of marketing assistance in getting new HP 3000s installed.

Another education application provider, Quintessential School Systems, is shipping software that’s entirely in Native Mode COBOL now. Percox, who’s a principal in QSS, said he’d be willing to move his applications to IA-64 COBOL to get object-oriented capabilities.

“We would accept having to fully migrate to IA-based COBOL to get OO constructs if HP would only support one compiler for OO support,” Percox said. “We would also be willing to migrate to IA COBOL to get other features of the new COBOL standard as well.”

“That’s some good feedback for us to be considering,” HP’s Roten said. “It’s way early to say if that [trade-off] is necessary.”

HP is still considering improvement to the COBOL in the installed base. “It’s the language we have the most people programming in today,” Roten said. “But as we look forward, you have to really look hard at the combination of Java, C++ and C. Will they be overtaking COBOL? Or is COBOL what people will be doing their primary development in a few years down the road? We don’t know for sure.”