Re: [open-cobol-list] Fixed vs Free Format

[john Culleton]

On Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:15:57 -0500
Andrew Pennebaker <address@hidden> wrote:

> >
> > Actually it is useful to have line numbers for error messages.
> > And it is also useful for the printed output to show all the COPYed
> > code in the printout. OC errs in this respect.
> 
> 
> Modern computer languages also print line numbers for error messages,
> though they manage to do this without having the user manually type
> the line number in his code.
> 
> By standard, FIXED form is converted to FREE form during
> preprocessing.
> >
> 
> If the internal representation is free, why does the standard call
> for us to type in fixed? It's syntax vinegar.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Andrew Pennebaker
> www.yellosoft.us


Well, COBOL never is called a "modern" language :<). As I
mentioned earlier I have a renumbering program, written in COBOL
of course. So I don't have to type in numbers manually. 

If the error number has a line number, but the program itself has
none, then cross referencing is difficult.

There is of course another problem. The output listing produced
by OC skips both COPYed code and comment lines. The compilers I
am used to produce an output listing of all lines in the file,
including COPYed lines. 
-- 
John Culleton
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