Re: gnubol: STODGY and GNUVEAU compile

["Fred Neale" <fneale@tss.com.au>]

In a message dated 11/10/99 1:26:31 PM EST,
 Christopher Clark,   compudata@cadvision.com writes in part

...
<<
             gnubol extension:  Also permit ADD number TO pointer identifier,
 SUBTRACT number FROM pointer-identifier?
 >>
...

Also referring to Bob Rayhawk's reply on 11/11/99.....

I wonder if we are not getting dangerously close to the "up to your ass in
alligators" syndrome.

For instance, looking at Christopher Clark's sample above, IBM's VS COBOL II and
COBOL/370 allow you to redefine a pointer as pic 9(9) comp data field which can
then be arithmetically manipulated. But aren't we getting a little ahead of
ourselves? Surely it would be better to concentrate initially on creating a
plain vanilla ANSI-85 compliant compiler before getting in to exotic bells and
whistles? Otherwise, writing the compiler and runtime will be a little like
tap-dancing on marbles.

PROCEDURE-POINTER is a wonderful statement when working with motif-type screens
to handle mouse clicks on gadgets, but apart from that I feel that there are
"traditional" COBOL ways of doing most popularly used tasks. Or perhaps I
over-simplify?

I have no idea what demands there are on Tim's time apart from working on the
gnubol compiler, but I for one would be quite happy to see an early
implementation of a solid, workable compiler which conforms to ANSI-85 base
standards and which is then capable of enhancement.

Cheers

Fred



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