On 16/09/21 04:52, Steve Litt wrote:
> Gavin Flower said on Wed, 15 Sep 2021 13:49:39 +1200
>
>> Hi Michael,
> [snip]
>
>>> COBOL has strange verbs like 'move corresponding' that could
>>> accomplish complicated tasks in a few lines but you have to be
>>> careful that you knew what you were asking for!
>> In our site that was banned as being too dangerous.
>>
>> And how about the 'lovely' ALTER GOTO construct???
>>
>> Children don't try to use these constructs at home, as even
>> experienced adults get burnt using them!
> I never Cobolled professionally, but took 3 semesters of Cobol and
> Santa Monica Community College in Santa Monica, California USA. They
> taught us move corresponding, I used it, it was handy. I'd use it again
> if I were a Cobol professional.
>
> As far as alter, in 1981, before I became a programmer, I asked my
> Cobol Programmer friend if there was anything you could put in a
> program that would get you fired. He said yes, the alter statement :-).
> In my 3 semesters of Cobol, I never once used the Alter statement.
[...]
I was very proud of using an ALTER GOTO in my first program in my 8 week
COBOL training course. Now I cringe every time I think about it!
Before the course, I was fluent in FORTRAN IV and had programmed in
ALGOL-68. So I was an experienced programmer.
Cheers,
Gavin
Cheers,
Gavin