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Re: [open-cobol-list] Best online and text tutorials?
From: |
John Culleton |
Subject: |
Re: [open-cobol-list] Best online and text tutorials? |
Date: |
Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:25:44 -0400 |
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KMail/1.9.9 |
On Saturday 09 August 2008 11:34:30 am Brian Tiffin wrote:
> On August 9, 2008 12:57:52 am address@hidden
wrote:
> > I would state that a simple Hello World Program in COBOL
> > has become MUCH simpler than his example. We no long
> > are required to have all those sections or even the preceding
> > line numbers.
>
> Yeah, on the opencobol.org forum (and in the soon to be unveiled
> FAQ), hello world is as short as
>
> program-id.hello.procedure division.display "Hello World!".
>
> Cheers,
> Brian
>
There was a language in my youth called APL whose fan base reveled in
creating one line programs. I hope COBOL and its fan base has not
been reduced to that level. An important and unique feature of COBOL
is that it was designed to be read as well as written. It is
intended to be a self-documenting language. While recent versions
have strayed far from that original concept the thought of reducing a
sample program to one line is a violation of one of the key features
that makes COBOL different from other languages. Just because you can
do it doesn't mean you should do it.
Another key feature of COBOL is that it is a file handling language.
Hence my template includes the major headers required for file
handling.
The use of line numbers is a matter of personal taste. As an old time
COBOL dude I prefer them. Ditto upper case versus lower case. But
many compilers will choke on a program that lacks all four divisions.
Hence an example program that omits them is IMO a misleading one.
I would at a minimum rearrange the one-liner thus:
identification division.
program-id. hello.
procedure division.
display "Hello World!".
stop run.
IMO of course.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Culleton