Re: gnubol: STODGY and GNUVEAU compile

[Christopher Clark <compudata@cadvision.com>]

Fred Neale wrote:

> 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?
>  >>
> ...

    Wow, if I'd known that idea was going to flare up this much...  As far as Bob
Rayhawk's other reply, about ``how big is an increment of 1?'', the Draft says
``one alphanumeric character position''.  If you want ``the next array element'',
the Draft expects you to use

    SET pointer UP BY FUNCTION LENGTH-AN data-name
    SET pointer DOWN BY FUNCTION LENGTH-AN data-name

    However, since arrays^H^H^H^H^H^Htables are completely seperate from pointers
under COBOL, and per-character manipulation can be handled using reference
modification, I'm not even sure pointer arithmetic is useful in COBOL.  In short,
it's annoying, but it probably won't ever be used anyways.

> 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.

    I feel roughly the same way.  I was just saying that if we do make it
available, do it the way COBOL 20xx expects.

> 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 think there is a lot of ``popular'' functionality (where popular may or may
not equal buzzword) that doesn't really have a parallel in ``traditional'' COBOL,
unfortunately.  It shows up most in the User Interface, but it does exist in many
different areas.  Some of it is easy to do in a manner that looks like COBOL (i.e.
multi-threading in acuCOBOL), but some of it isn't.

--
 Christopher Clark   compudata@cadvision.com   ICQ#9342023
 I don't even dream of being able to speak for my company...

Irregular adjective:
     I have an independent mind, you are eccentric, they are completely around the
     twist.




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