Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!csri.toronto.edu!norvell
From: norvell@csri.toronto.edu (Theodore Stevens Norvell)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Two Cobol Questions
Message-ID: <1989Jul25.145219.22172@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI
Date: 25 Jul 89 18:52:19 GMT

Perhaps this is not the right newsgroup, but if there is a Cobol group,
we don't get it here.

(0)  Some languages (notably Pascal) allow non-local gotos.  That is, gotos
     that jump out of the current procedure.  Does Cobol? If so what is
     its semantics?  For example does the following control structure have
     a well defined semantics when foo is true?

     a
	 perform b through c.
	 stop run.
     b
	 perform d through e.
     c
	 exit.
     d
	 if foo then goto c.
     e
	 exit.

     What if there is a goto e just before the stop run?  Does control
     pass to c after e?!?
     
     By the way, I'm not interested so much in responses like
     ``Compiler x does y'', but rather ``Standard x mandates y'' or
     ``Standard x prohibits constructs like this because of rule y''.
     Of course de-facto standards are also of interest.

(1)  Is there a ``Harbison and Steele'' of Cobol.  That is, a book that
     thoroughly explains what is and isn't in the language.  (Harbison
     and Steele wrote an excellent book on C aimed at implementors and
     other people who want to know the details of the language definition.
     They don't shy away from the dark corners of the language.)  The
     books I've seen get the most vauge, just when clarity is needed the
     most.

All replies, other than those pointing out my syntax errors, are welcome.