From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!ihnss!ihldt!wrv
Newsgroups: net.flame
Title: COBOL is a joke
Article-I.D.: ihldt.496
Posted: Thu Jun 10 11:09:05 1982
Received: Fri Jun 11 03:59:47 1982

     The problem with structured COBOL is that it was never
     designed as a structured language,  and hence any efforts
     to make it be so have failed MISERABLY.

     Take for example:

(1)     READ MASTREC AT END MOVE 1 TO EOF-FLAG,
(2)          IF NREC < 4 THEN
(3)              BADNUMRECS = YES
(4)          ELSE
(5)              MOVE 1 TO FLAGS_OK,
(6)              PERFORM CLOSEOUT,
(7)              MOVE 0 TO BADNUMRECS.

    Now all you COBOL fans, tell me:
    1.  Are lines 6 & 7 part of the ELSE, or
        part of the AT END clause.

    2.  Will lines 6 and 7 execute at all AT END conditions
        or only when the ELSE is executed?

    Also I will mention that COBOL (at least HARRIS
    Structured Cobol) has some perverted attitudes
    towards using lower case letters in variable
    initializers.

    The language is full of inconsistencies, example:
    PROGRAM ID. PROGRAM-NAME.
    Why the period after PROGRAM-ID??  It is ridiculous,
    based on the way periods work in most other places,
    the period after PROGRAM ID.  The delimiter should just be
    a space.

    COBOL is a wordy language, and difficult to learn.
    I have never enjoyed programming anything in cobol,
    and I believe (as mentioned by someone else before) that 
    any competent 
    programmer  given a complete library can write faster and 
    more effectively that the COBOL guy.

                      -Bill Vogel
                       BTL, Indian Hill
                       ...ihnss!ihldt!wrv