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From: bprice@bmcg.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang
Subject: Re: If "MERRY XMAS" in COBOL is a must, then at least make it Structured
Message-ID: <647@bmcg.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Nov-83 13:21:45 EST
Article-I.D.: bmcg.647
Posted: Thu Nov 17 13:21:45 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Nov-83 01:33:43 EST
References: <804@ritcv.UUCP>
Organization: Burroughs Corporation, San Diego
Lines: 36

Path: bmcg!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!harpo!seismo!rochester!ritcv!jrc
From: jrc@ritcv.UUCP

>If we must have a COBOL version of PRINT  "MERRY CHRISTMAS,"  let's at least
>make it structured...... Here is one version of such a program.
--The lower-case is my modifications to the original to make it shorter and
  representative of COBOL usage (as I [mis?]understand it).
        IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
        PROGRAM-ID.  MERRY-XMAS.

        ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
        CONFIGURATION SECTION.
        SOURCE-COMPUTER. VAX11.
        OBJECT-COMPUTER. VAX11.

        PROCEDURE DIVISION.
        PRINT-CONTROL-LOOP.
            PERFORM  PRINT-IT  15 times.
            STOP RUN.
        PRINT-IT.
            DISPLAY  "MERRY CHRISTMAS".

>Of course this code is *NOT* properly commented nor necessarily well written.
>Isn't this an absurd number of lines of code just to accomplish such a simple
>task?
--Yes, it is.  COBOL is definitely not a language for short programs by
  amateurs.  COBOL is, however, a powerful language within its own scope.  
  The fact of its continued use, as the most popular of all programming
  languages, says a lot about it.  (I can't give a source, but I have heard
  that more programs have been written in COBOL than in all other languages
  combined; and further, except for the COBOL programs, the same is true
  for FORTRAN!)
    It must be that there is something very good, in some sense, about COBOL!
-- 
--Bill Price    uucp:   {decvax!ucbvax  philabs}!sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice
                arpa:?  sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice@nosc