CompuServe Thread

Programming Discipline

4 messages in this thread
#28705From: Nelson IngersollOct 3, 1992 10:19 PM
James – I hope some day, years from now, when someone comes across something you did (something perhaps even pioneering?) that they don't think of your work the same as you feel about COBOL. Each of us stands upon the shoulders of those who have gone before. You, I, we owe, at the very least, a great deal of admiration for those whose efforts we can so flippantly look upon as "… the worst language ever written." Could you, starting with as little, perform as much or as well? – Nelson …
#28747From: James Du BoisOct 4, 1992 7:40 PM
Nelson, The problem with COBOL is it was designed by a committee, which is defined as "many mouths connected to the same stomach". It also doesn't help my lack of admiration for COBOL that it was designed to be read by non-programmers but not written by non-programmers. God help you if you get your input, working storage, and output variables mixed up because the compiler WON'T. James Du Bois via Whap!
#29094From: Nelson IngersollOct 10, 1992 3:09 PM
James – COBOL was designed at a time when programming alternatives, and 20/20 hindsight, where not as abundant as they might seem to be today. In the Darwinian computer universe, COBOL has proven to be an admirable cockroach at survival. Would that you and I could prove so able at surviving. – Nelson …
#29125From: James Du BoisOct 11, 1992 8:35 PM
But Nelson, The only nice thing I ever heard anybody say about COBOL is that it does work, after a fashion. James Du Bois via Whap!