Subj : Re: COBOL for Beginners
To   : smartyhall
From : Mortifis
Date : Sat Dec 07 2019 08:27:56

 >   Re: Re: COBOL for Beginners
 >   By: Dumas Walker to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Fri Dec 06 2019 06:17 pm

 >  > > I never saw a COBOL compiler, don't know if it was because of demand or
 >  > > hardware requirements - trying to think about the amount of work to get
 >  > > from COBOL to X86 assembly boggles the mind.

 >  > There was not a free one I know of, but IBM/MicroFocus had one.  I bought
 >  > a copy several years ago.  IIRC, it would run on a 386.  Not sure if it
 >  > would run on less of a machine than that.

 >  > There are free ones now, for linux at least.  I believe what they
 >  > actually do is convert the COBOL source to another language and then
 >  > compile it from there.

 > Transpilers often seem like the Great White Whale of computer science. It's
 > so tempting to go down the path of...

 > If I just write a transpiler that turns this into an intermediate language
 > that is more simple and elegant, I can easily write a compiler that handles
 > that efficiently. Then, I can just advance that compiler and apply it to
 > anything else I encounter in the future, just by writing a simple
 > transpiler. I mean

I suppose you could always try Euphoria :-P
http://www.rapideuphoria.com/

---
 þ Synchronet þ AlleyCat! BBS - http://alleycat.synchro.net:81

.