Re: COBOL compiler
On Wed, 2003-08-27 at 17:34, Paul M Foster wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2003 at 01:15:13AM -0500, Michael Heironimus wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Aug 26, 2003 at 11:57:27PM -0400, Al Davis wrote:
> > > Learn the style, so when someone gives you a COBOL-style
> > > program in C++, you will understand it.
> >
> > Do not underestimate the value of this. You can take a COBOL programmer
> > and teach him C/C++/Java (or whatever popular language), and he'll pick
> > up the syntax just fine. And as soon as you tell him to write something
> > he'll write code that looks EXACTLY like COBOL in C/C++/Java syntax. It
> > will be unreadable, unmaintainable, and hopelessly inefficient, but
> > nobody will ever have time for the rewrite it desperately needs.
>
> I've heard about this before, but I don't think I've ever seen it.
> Someday I'd like to see some "COBOL-like" code written in C.
Instead of lots of small functions and a minimum of global variables,
the classic code from a "bad COBOL programmer forced to write C"
would have large main(), very few other functions, and all global
variables.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA
"Adventure is a sign of incompetence"
Stephanson, great polar explorer
Reply to: