Assembler Conversion Overview

Today, businesses struggle with the problem of how to maintain the investment made in their software applications that were developed using Assembler and other “legacy” programming languages. Switching to newer programming languages can allow businesses to lower their maintenance / development costs while gaining access to newer technologies and larger pools of programming talent. Unfortunately, transitioning from one programming language to another is not trivial (especially for assembler)! Reengineering and manual rewrites can take years, consume large amounts of financial and manpower resources, and still result in lost/broken functionality. Datatek’s automated Assembler Conversion Service solves these problems.

We can convert HLASM, ASM360, ASM370, ASM390, and much more. Call 800-536-4835 today and speak to one of our project managers to discuss the details of your Assembler conversion project!

“Is It Really Possible to
Automatically Convert Assembler
to Maintainable C/C++, COBOL, C#...?”

It’s the first question you want to ask. “Can Datatek really automatically convert Assembler to maintainable C/C++, COBOL, C#...?” The answer is yes, we can! Datatek has been performing automated programming language conversions since 1994. And, we are proud to say that we know of applications still in production today that use code we automatically converted for clients over 15 years ago!

Customization, customization, customization... We can’t stress that word enough. We have found that the only way to automatically convert Assembler to maintainable code is by customizing our converter for each client. Datatek’s conversions are not simply one-for-one instruction translations. In fact, they are extremely complex transformations that are performed against entire files taking into account how your programmers have written your code. The end result — structured and maintainable code that adheres to your coding standards.

See the Datatek Difference!

 

Datatek Customizes its Converter for Each and Every Client

Because we know from experience that no two Assembler applications are the same, Datatek customizes its converter for each and every client. We understand that your business has spent years developing and customizing your applications to address your company’s specific needs and processes. And because we understand how important this is to the success of the project, we customize our tools from top to bottom so that we can return converted code to you that is both accurate and maintainable.

“Generic” solutions can produce poor code which lacks a standard of maintainability. We have found that customers are much more satisfied receiving code in the form they want it in as opposed to being forced to take code in whatever form a generic solution provides it in.

A major example, of client-specific customization is in the conversion of macros. IBM provided a very powerful macro facility which could be looked at as a programming language in itself. Datatek’s conversion service is customized so that macros are converted based on specific criteria. A macro could be replaced in-line with converted code, it could be converted to a copy/include file, it could be replaced with functionality built into the target language, or it could be replaced with custom code.

 
 

Datatek Effectively Uses Automation to Reduce Your Cost, Risk & Pain

One of the primary advantages of automation is its ability to increase the speed and accuracy of a project by reducing the amount of manual conversion and qualification that needs to be done. Manual effort is by its very nature much more inconsistent and error prone than automation.

Reducing the manual effort through a high level of automation has a number of benefits:

  • Testing and qualification time is reduced for each code merge.
  • Reduction of QA effort frees you and your staff to work on other projects.
  • Datatek can allow the customer to experiment with various solutions and see their effect and implication across the entire code base.
 
 

Datatek Takes Responsibility to Ensure Your Success!

Migrations are difficult, they are inherently risky, and they require strong partnerships. It isn’t enough for a migration partner to just convert your code and then walk away, leaving you with the task of qualification as well as problem resolution, code modification, and cleanup.

This is why Datatek takes full responsibility for any problems found during testing. What’s more, Datatek integrates its conversion process into the testing of the code so that problems are found as early as possible, Datatek’s converter is modified to handle those problems, and the code is regenerated. By using this method, each problem found in one place is fixed and eliminated from the entire code base.

And this is just one example of how we help you to be successful. From our initial assessment of your code to the moment you are ready to deploy, to the support that we provide you post-cutover, Datatek will customize itself to your needs so that you get the maximum benefit from our services.

 

We Can Handle It

The following is just a brief list of some of the Assembler functionality that we are frequently asked if we can handle:

  • Sections (DSECT/CSECT)
  • Data types (Zoned/Packed Decimal, Binary, Float, Character, Half/Full Word, Address...)
  • Macros
  • Modifying instructions during runtime (self-modifying code)
  • Memory overlaps via ORG
  • Generating instructions at runtime (self-generating code)
  • System call functionality (System Macros/SVCs)
  • Condition codes (mnemonic, hard coded values, ...)
  • EBCDIC/ASCII transformations
  • EXECUTE instruction
  • 24 bit mode
  • Multiple instruction consolidation to single statements
  • Elimination of unused labels
  • USING/DROP instructions
  • EDIT Masks
  • Comments especially as code gets consolidated
  • Bit Shift/Set/Test instructions

We handle all aspects and features used in your application’s Assembler code and we convert it into consistent, maintainable code in the target language.

Assembler Conversion Tour

  1. Assembler conversion overview
  2. Learn about the language conversion process
  3. Language Conversion Advantages
  4. Resources & White Papers

Ready For More Information?

Call 800-536-4TEK and speak to a Datatek project manager today! Email Datatek at info@datatek-net.com

Datatek has successfully converted millions of lines of Assembler code. We will put our experience and insight to work for you.

Call 800-536-4TEK and speak to a Datatek project manager today!

More Information

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