Mainframe stalwarts are still adapting to technological changes through compatible languages that anticipate the future. InfoWorld reports that IBM is using the Google language Go for its mainframe z systems in a port that was finalized at the end of last year. The move is allegedly an attempt to increase the abilities of the mainframe, as Marcel Mitran of IBM LinuxOne told the source in an email.
"IBM is using the Google language Go for its mainframe z systems."
"We ported Go to z Systems as part of our overall effort to expand the platform's open source ecosystem," he wrote. "We continue to look for ways to provide developers new options for taking advantage of the mainframe." Mitran later added that working with the existing Go community "will enable us to introduce new technologies to the platforms that are based on Go in the future."
Last June, Serdar Yegulap wrote an article on the benefits of Go, mentioning the "consistent behavior across platforms" as a strong factor in developing command-line apps. Other advantages Yegulap mentioned include networking and other native concurrency options.
On the other hand, he also noted the "scattered" culture preventing Go GUI's. Although the piece references one project attempting to use Go for systems programming, the piece notes the difficulties the language has with embedded systems design.
Developers may look at these developments as signs of where IBM is going and what mainframes need to embrace to stay relevant. For further assistance keeping full mainframe functionality current, businesses can work with agile legacy system modernization tools that are equally useful on every device in the enterprise. There's also a greater assurance that these systems will stay versatile no matter which browsers businesses rely on in the future.