Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncrlnk!usglnk!pmday_2!steve
From: steve@pmday_2.Dayton.NCR.COM (Steve Bridges)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: Call  for Discussion: alt.cobol
Message-ID: <574@pmday_2.Dayton.NCR.COM>
Date: 27 Nov 89 18:30:58 GMT
References: <5301@garfield.MUN.EDU> <1989Nov25.193310.20967@world.std.com>
Reply-To: steve@pmday_2.UUCP (Steve Bridges)
Organization: NCR Corporation - USDPG Product Marketing (Dayton)
Lines: 40

In article <1989Nov25.193310.20967@world.std.com> bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes:
>
>>microsoft has cobol, mvs has cobol, vms has cobol, rt-11 has cobol,
>>!!alt!! needs cobol.
>
>There's at least one Cobol for Unix, it's called "RM Cobol" (I am
>*not* making this up), and they never understand the snickers as we
>walk by their booth at trade shows.
We use it (RM-Cobol) here on our Towers, and love it.

There are 2 varieties of RM-COBOL, the '74 version and the '85 version.  In
addition, there are several other vendors of COBOL for unix boxes:  LPI and
Microfocus comes to mind.


>Completeness arguments ("there's a group for other major languages")
>and marketing arguments ("there are a zillion cobol programmers out
>there, somewhere") just don't cut it.
>
>Are there at least several people who will stand up and say "I am a
>Cobol programmer and would benefit personally from this group" rather
>than the current spate of "I've known some Cobol programmers and
>they're not bad folks...wouldn't let my daughter marry one though..."

Well, I program in COBOL (as well as some other languages), and I am
standing up as I type this and have to say "I am a COBOL programmer
and would benefit personally from this group".  (there, you got at least
one response).


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|_____________________________________________|______________________________|
      COPY "stand.disclaim".
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      COBOL-ese for #include "stand.disclaim"