Re: COBOL compiler
On Tue, 2003-08-26 at 10:05, Kirk Strauser wrote:
> At 2003-08-26T14:25:32Z, Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> writes:
>
> > For a "Hello, World" program, or an OS, or a graphics toolkit, even
> > Admiral Hooper would not say that COBOL is the proper tool. OTOH, for
> > large commercial apps, COBOL is far and away the best tool for the job.
>
> I ask in seriousness: what would you define as a "large commercial app" that
> would be appropriate for COBOL above all else? I have never actually seen
> it used outside of legacy systems; is there something great I'm missing?
1st of all, I have to amend the phrase "large commercial app" to
"data processing app". Accounting, payroll, claims processing,
report generation, banking, etc are typical examples. Usually,
they are large and relegated to back offices, but not always. Even
15 years ago, PCs were getting fast enough that some COBOL apps
were being migrated onto PCs.
The greatness of COBOL is the fact that it is a honed tool. Just
as C is great for low-level work, COBOL is *designed* to move,
process, sort, summarize, etc. fixed-length records around.
For example, COBOL has intrinsic constructs for easily handling
ISAM files in a variety of manners. Likewise, there is a very
powerful intrinsic SORT verb.
--
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Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA
The purpose of the military isn't to pay your college tuition or
give you a little extra income; it's to "kill people and break things".
Surprisingly, not everyone understands that.
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