What's the bright side of Cobol? [closed]

Answer 1

You can also redefine records to allow processing of text files of multiple record types.

01 my-address-record.
   02 my-record-type      pic x.
   02 my-street           pic x(20).
   02 my-city             pic x(20).
   02 my-state            pic x(2).
   02 my-zip              pic x(5).
   02 filler              pic x(3).
01 my-comments-record redefines my-address-record.
   02 filler              pic x.
   02 my-comments         pic x(50).
01 my-automobiles redefines my-address-record.
   02 filler              pic x.
   02 year                pic 9(4).
   02 make                pic x(20).
   02 model               pic x(20).
   02 filler              pic x(6).


--code--
if my-record-type = 'a'
   ... process address
else if my-record-type = 'b'
   ... process comments
else if my-record-type = 'c'
   ... process automobiles.

Answer 2

An ability to write formulas in less concise manner. For example:

ADD YEARS TO AGE.
MULTIPLY PRICE BY QUANTITY GIVING COST.
SUBTRACT DISCOUNT FROM COST GIVING FINAL-COST.

Is it an advantage or disadvantage? depends on how you look at it...

Answer 3

The folks at Sun (now Oracle) will probably get mad at me, but FORTRAN and COBOL were the first attempts at write once, run anywhere languages. IBM added extensions to the COBOL language that pretty much nullified the attempt for COBOL.

Before COBOL and FORTRAN, computer languages were machine specific. Computers were so expensive that it was cheaper to rewrite the code each time you upgraded the computer. IBM realized in the late 1950's that creating and maintaining a consistent computer architecture would save customers money (and increase the market for computer systems). That's why IBM developed the 360 series of computers.

In the same manner, customers realized that rewriting software for each new machine was getting too expensive. IBM developed the beginnings of FORTRAN, while Grace Hopper and the federal government drove the development of COBOL. Which explains why IBM added all those proprietary extensions to COBOL. The federal government involvement also explains why COBOL is such a verbose language.

Answer 4

True fixed-point variables and math. So, for 15 dollars and 75 cents your internal representation was the binary digits 1, 5, 7, and 5. This was an exact representation versus the standard floating point approximation. Also, all addition and subtraction on that fixed-point variable was also fixed-point.

The Report Writer extension was very good at generating reports and handling headers, footers, page breaks, section breaks, and just about anything having to do with generating reports.

The Sort/Merge extension was also very, very good. With the variety of allowable constructs you could simply sort/merge, or you could process sort input records before the sort or sort output after the sort. For example, feed the input records directly to sort but then use Report Writer on the sorted records without having to manage an intermediate sorted file in your code. Very nice.

What it did well, it did very well. It is just that most of the time, what it did well isn't exactly what you need.

Answer 5

COBOL is great for formatting output. An output field that looks like:

TOTAL-PAY PIC $$$,$$$.99

would print the $ right next to the value. It would print up to $99,999.99. If the value was only $150, it would print $150.00. Also, there is usually a COBOL function that would convert that amount to words - "ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS AND NO CENTS"

Answer 6

Output format is part of the variable declaration. It's very business-oriented.

In COBOL, a variable declaration consists of a line in the DATA DIVISION that contains the following items:

* A level number.
* A data-name or identifier.
* A Picture clause.

A starting value may be assigned to a variable by means of an extension to the PICTURE clause called the VALUE clause.

Some examples:

01 GrossPay       PIC 9(5)V99 VALUE ZEROS.

01 NetPay         PIC 9(5)V99 VALUE ZEROS.

01 CustomerName   PIC X(20) VALUE SPACES.

01 CustDiscount   PIC V99 VALUE .25.