Board:   [DoveNet] Unix/Linux
Subject: Re: What Is Unix? (was: H
From:    Amessyroom
Date:    Fri Jan 16, 2026 02:06

@VIA: TL-QWK
  Re: Re: What Is Unix? (was: H
  By: Mortar to MIKE POWELL on Thu Jan 15 2026 03:34 pm

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


Have you done COBOL on linux ? I learned it in high school along with RPG but never used it. Took a course in college but changed it to pass/fail because I wasn't keep up.

I use linux daily and wonder how hard it would be to find a free compiler and editor that would help with keying in COBOL code.

....Back-up not found (A)bort, (R)etry, (P)anic

---
 ■ Synchronet ■ Too Lazy BBS - toolazy.synchro.net:2323
.