The only way to modernize EGL
EGL systems express behavior through layers that must be analyzed together: source code, generation templates, service binding conventions, and toolchain configurations. Synchrony accounts for these layers and transforms them into modern platforms that behave exactly like the originals.
This requires getting the following prerequisites right:
1. Generation templates analyzed alongside source
EGL behavior is not fully contained in source code. Identical EGL programs produce different results depending on target platform, template configuration, and build settings, meaning source-only analysis captures an incomplete picture.
Synchrony analyzes both EGL source and the artifacts it generates, tracing how templates shape runtime behavior, how service bindings are established by convention, and how cross-platform variations affect execution. Behavior is made explicit before transformation begins.
Result: Transparent modern architectures where behavior lives in code instead of hidden generation infrastructure.
2. Rich UI semantics carried into modern component models
EGL Rich UI builds browser applications through widget hierarchies, implicit state synchronization, and convention-driven event handling. These patterns have no direct equivalent in React, Angular, or other modern frameworks.
Synchrony extracts implicit state into explicit management, maps widget patterns to component models, and preserves event handling sequences and service call conventions before introducing modern async patterns. UI semantics are understood before they are replaced.
Result: Modern interfaces that behave like the originals while gaining the UX and maintainability advantages of current frameworks.
3. Cross-platform orchestration preserved across migration boundaries
EGL programs coordinate transactions across mainframe COBOL, distributed services, and databases, with business logic split between EGL orchestration and COBOL implementation.
Synchrony maps dependencies across EGL, COBOL, and external systems, defines business capability boundaries, and plans service extraction strategies before migration begins. Strangler-pattern approaches allow controlled coexistence rather than forcing a hard cutover.
Result: Modern services that maintain transaction semantics and managed mainframe integration throughout the transition.
4. Toolchain dependencies removed, not just worked around
EGL development depends on Rational Business Developer, version-locked Eclipse builds, and generation toolchains that create expertise scarcity and brittle operational constraints. Modernizing code without addressing the toolchain leaves the underlying problem intact.
Synchrony migrates build configurations to modern systems, enables standard CI/CD pipelines, and removes RBD dependencies, replacing version-locked environments with toolchains that contemporary development teams can actually work in.
Result: Teams operating with standard tools, observable systems, and workflows that don’t require specialized EGL expertise to maintain.
5. Data coupling resolved before schema evolution can begin
EGL record definitions and embedded SQL patterns tightly couple programs to database schemas in ways that block both data modernization and broader architectural change. Direct translation carries that coupling forward unchanged.
Synchrony analyzes record usage patterns, identifies where coupling constrains evolution, and designs encapsulation layers that separate application logic from schema structure, enabling schema evolution and data migration strategies to proceed independently of application changes.
Result: Flexible data access patterns that support architectural change rather than preventing it.
