Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!oz.cis.ohio-state.edu!jgreely From: jgreely@oz.cis.ohio-state.edu (J Greely) Newsgroups: news.groups Subject: Re: CALL FOR DISCUSSION: comp.lang.cobol Message-ID: Date: 26 Nov 89 04:17:12 GMT References: <2093@compugen.> Sender: news@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Reply-To: J Greely Distribution: news Organization: Ohio State University Computer and Information Science Lines: 32 In-reply-to: john@compugen.'s message of 25 Nov 89 00:26:26 GMT In article <2093@compugen.> john@compugen. (John Beaudin) writes: >The cobol i use (AcuCobol) already has built-in windows and a symbolic >source code debugger. That's a lot more than a lot of the other >languages appearing in their own newsgroups can say. Is that really an important consideration for a language's presence in comp.lang.*? Nonsense (particularly when discussing completely non-standard extensions to a language, patched on in an attempt to prolong its lifetime). Personally, my COBOL experience is with the LCD variety, writing code that has to work on a system that's *almost* ANSI-74 compatible. >IMHO, restricting news group existence to those with snob appeal >is just another kind of book burning. I want comp.lang.cobol >to exist and flourish. "Snob appeal"? Forth? Clu? Rexx? Get serious! The reason there is no group for COBOL is that no one cared. There just hasn't been any overwhelming volume of COBOL-related discussion going on, probably because it's not popular among netters. In fact, the only mention of COBOL I've seen in months was "can anybody recommend a COBOL-to-C translator?". I think you're getting defensive for no reason. People may be taking the opportunity to put down COBOL, but that doesn't mean they're trying to force it off the net. A few idle netters taking potshots at a newsgroup proposal is not book burning. Relax, switch to decaf, and if that doesn't work, take it to alt.conspiracy. (ps: your address is bogus. Tell your news administrator to fix it) -=- J Greely (jgreely@cis.ohio-state.edu; osu-cis!jgreely)