As of 2019, Adabas is marketed[3] for use on a wider range of platforms, including Linux, Unix, and Windows.
[7] Adabas is one of the three major inverted list DBMS packages, the other two being Computer Corporation of America’s Model 204 and ADR’s Datacom/DB.
In a 2015 white paper, IBM said: "applications that are written in a pre-relational database, such as Adabas, are no longer mainstream and do not follow accepted IT industry standards".
While there are tools and services to facilitate converting Adabas to various relational databases,[13] such migrations are usually costly.
Adabas is an inverted list data base, with the following characteristics or terminology: Adabas is typically used in applications that require high volumes of data processing or in high-transaction online analytical processing environments.
Proponents say that Natural has evolved from a competitor of COBOL to "being in competition with Java as language of choice for writing services (SOA).
"[21] Natural, which includes a built-in screen-oriented editor, has two main components: the system and the language.
are stored in libraries, similar in structure to a DOS directory, and can be named with identifiers up to 8 characters.
Natural also supports an interactive debugger that allows developers to step through the code and display the contents of variables.