Board:   [DoveNet] Unix/Linux
Subject: Re: What Is Unix? (was: H
From:    Dumas Walker
Date:    Thu Jan 15, 2026 20:10

@VIA: CAPCITY2
>> As COBOL reads a lot like english, I found it easy to pick up.  You do have
>> to remember to define all of your variables in working storage...

> COBOL was my favorite language.  I learned it in the mid-'70s using an IBM
> 370/158; COBOL 74 was the dialect.  Yeah, you had to watch that Data Division,
> but the Procedure Div. could be even more treacherous.  Onemis-placed special
> character can generate a multitude of error msgs.  In fact we used to hold
> contests (unofficially, of course) on who could generate the most.  I never
> came close to the record, which I believe was over 200 errors, just because a
>comma was used instead of a period, I forget how.

I was always amazed how many error messages just one error... typo,
punctuation, etc... could produce.  Then again, it was always great to
fix that one error and watch them all disappear!  ;)


 * SLMR 2.1a * No woman has ever shot a man while he's doing the dishes.
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