Re: [open-cobol-list] Installing and working with open cobol

[John R. Culleton]

On Thursday 21 June 2007 06:59, Etta David wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
>   I studied COBOL on MS - Dos environnement some 15 years ago and
> want to get back to it.
>
>   Can any one in the mailing list kindly provide me with
> information on how to install and work with open cobol.
>
>   Your assistance will help to get me back to employment.
>
Well the install instructions are pretty clear.  But platforms differ. 
IMO the easiest platform to install on is Linux but others may have a 
different view.  What is your platform?

You work with Open Cobol by creating Cobol programs in an editor and 
compiling them with the cobc command. You can use traditional (72 
column) or modern format. Most commands found in the 1985 standard 
are covered. Some commands from the 2002 standard are covered. At 
this point the screen section is not.  In addition there are command 
line switches that accept variants:
 -std=                 cobol2002   Cobol 2002
                          cobol85     Cobol 85
                          ibm         IBM Compatible
                          mvs         MVS Compatible
                          bs2000      BS2000 Compatible
                          mf          Micro Focus Compatible
                          v023        Open Cobol V23 Compatible 
                          default     When not specified

Another possilbility for your use is Tiny Cobol, no longer under 
active development, but with some interesting extensions including 
the screen section, positioned accept and display and so on. 

The demand for COBOL programmers remains low. The language is still in 
use but there is an oversupply of old crocks like me who know the 
language from years past. The hot new languages are the web 
languages, such as php, xhtml and so on. 

-- 
John Culleton
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