by Pam Manolakis
The annual IMPACT conference
is the leading international forum for users of CCA products. The theme
for IMPACT'97 tackles Internet issues head on.
The Internet has found
its way into the center of business and government alike. And the technology
that fueled the explosive growth of the Internet is now being exploited
within organizations on Intranets. The IMPACT board invites members to concentrate
on this theme when submitting conference papers for selection. Papers on
other themes of exceptional interest such as Year 2000 or specific Model
204 and System 1032 issues will also be considered.
On January 18th, the
IMPACT Executive Board will select the final papers for the conference,
based upon quality of presentation and interest to users. If your paper
is selected, your participation in the conference will be paid by IMPACT
- including registration, hotel, and airfare ($400 maximum).
What a great deal!
Abstracts must be received
by January 10, 1997. Please submit your abstracts by then to:
IMPACT'97 Speaker
Abstracts
P.O. Box 3809
Peabody, MA 01961
or via E-mail to admin@impactug.org
Model
204 and Year 2000
With just three more
years to go to the new millennium, the whole world of computer users is
talking about dates. Everyone with Model 204 systems has some work to do.
For some users, the effort is minor, while others have a considerable task
ahead of them.
Version 4.1 of Model
204, due for release in June 1997, contains several features for Year 2000
support. Some of these are essential for Model 204 itself to run correctly
over the century boundary, while others can help you make your applications
Year 2000 compliant.
Fortunately, the changes
required to the core software of Model 204 are relatively straightforward
and well contained. These changes will be tested internally at CCA in January
and February. Some customers have agreed to undertake beta tests on the
new software during March and April.
Several changes for
Year 2000 support are already in Version 4.1 beta test. These include enhancements
to the standard Model 204 date functions, and new date parameters (see CCAPRINT
June 1996). This functionality helps to minimize the changes necessary
to your application code. For example, most Model 204 applications have
screen input of dates, usually with a YY format for the year. By setting
these new parameters, you can automatically define systemwide rules that
correctly interprete these YY dates over the century boundary.
Version 4.1 also contains
the SYSDATE function, which allows you to simulate your Model 204 application
running at a future date. This tool is very valuable for testing, but comes
with a caution. You must remember to use this function only on test files
that you designate to run in this mode, because, once you have opened files
with a future date, you cannot reset them to run at an earlier date.
Should you wait until
you have the commercial release of Version 4.1 before beginning your Year
2000 testing? The answer is no. Most of the work necessary to make your
Model 204 applications Year 2000 compliant can be addressed with current
releases.
The main area you need
to look at is, of course, date handling. If you store dates in YYYY format
and use standard functions to manipulate or compare dates, then you can
simply upgrade to Version 4.1. Applications that do not deal with date calculations
or ordering, and that do not have date interfaces with other systems require
no modification.
On the other hand,
your database might have standard date fields in YY format, or might use
no standard at all. You might also find that application programs contain
routines written by individual programmers for comparing or manipulating
dates. If so, then start now to identify these data items, and where they
are processed.
This task, though major,
should not be difficult. Use the search power of Model 204 to identify where
you have data that needs changing, and where procedures access these data
items. (Don't forget to utilize standard functions such as $LSTFLD, $LSTPROC,
and $RDPROC). All this work can be done in advance of installing Model 204
V4R1, leaving a relatively straightforward task thereafter.
The problems at most
CCA customer sites will not be within Model 204; problems are much more
likely to reside in other applications on your mainframe, with mid-range
or PC systems, and with the interfaces among them. Give yourself plenty
of time to get these right.
Look for more articles
on Year 2000 issues that will appear in future editions of CCAprint. The
subject will also be covered at IMPACT'97.
Mark
your calendars!
IMPACT'97 will be held
April 27-30 at the Hyatt Regency Denver Downtown Hotel in Denver, Colorado.
System
1032 FTP directory
From the System 1032
FTP site, you can download fixes, patches, the System 1032 Web demo, file
transfer support utitlites, an emacs editor, and file subdirectories for
REQuest, SAS, and System 1032 utilities code . You can access these files
from the CCA Web site or directly with an FTP connection.
From
the CCA Web site
- 1. Open your Web
browser and enter the CCA Web address: http://www.cca-int.com
- 2. On the CCA home
page, click on the System 1032 Web demo hypertext link.
- 3. On the System
1032 Web demo page, scroll down to the section titled: How We Built It.
Click on the hypertext link phrase: visit
our anonymous ftp directory.
From
an FTP-only connection
- Open your FTP service.
- Enter the following:
- Host name: cca-int.com
- User: anonymous
- Password: your e-mail
address
At
the Index for Anonymous FTP Account
The list of files begins
with two text files, followed by fixes, patches, and utilities in code;
then several subdirectories with the same format. The
text files are aaa_index.txt (which contains a description of the files
in the Index) and aaareadme.txt (which contains an explanation of how to
download files using UNZIP, GZIP, or VMSTAR, whichever is appropriate).
You must specify to the FTP facility whether you want to download a text
file or a code file. To
download:
- A text file, specify
ASCII.
- A code file, specify
BINARY.
- New
Year's Resolution: Take a class to keep current
by Julie Phenicie
For
Model 204 fans:
Do you know what tools
are available to help you monitor and optimize the performance of Model
204 User Language code?
On January 22-24, 1997
in our McLean, Virginia office, CCA is offering a class that will teach
you just that.
The newly revised User
Language Performance and Tuning class includes information to help you determine
the source of a User Language performance problems, including using DBUGUL,LVLTRC,
and MSGCTL debugging parameters. Students will also learn techniques to
use while developing applications that reduce overall CPU usage and disk
I/O.
For
System 1032 aficionados:
Did you hire a new
hand or just start using System 1032?
System 1032 DBMS Fundamentals
and Essential PL1032 are being offered in January in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Come see our newly remodeled offices and meet the team members.
To
register for a class or for complete course descriptions:
Call the Framingham
office at 508-270-6666 and ask for Education. Watch your January mail for
a CCA Education brochure with the class schedule for the next six months.
Last Modified: 10:44am
, December 11, 1996
