RM COBOL with ISAM files
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From: Pete Dashwood on 12 Jul 2010 09:30 Alistair wrote: > The use of English and Spanish (I presume; No Habla Espanole) in this > thread has made me wonder about the compilers used in non-English > speaking countries: are they forced to use English or are there > language options which allow the use of local languages? I worked with a French COBOL compiler many years ago (in France, of course). I didn't like it, but then I would say that... :-) I also worked on a site in Germany where they said they had a German COBOL compiler. I never saw it and nobody, to my knowledge, ever used it. I remember an old ICL 1900 COBOL compiler (might have been XEKB or Compact COBOL... not sure, it was a long tme ago...) which allowed you to define your own keywords, so it would have been quite feasible to compile COBOL in ANY language (that used a Western alphabet.) ICL did a lot of business with Eastern Europe so that feature might have been deployed there. Pete. -- "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
From: Howard Brazee on 12 Jul 2010 10:09 On Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:54:51 -0700 (PDT), Alistair <alistair(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: >The use of English and Spanish (I presume; No Habla Espanole) in this >thread has made me wonder about the compilers used in non-English >speaking countries: are they forced to use English or are there >language options which allow the use of local languages? I've read that the only place where non-English CoBOL compilers have been available is France. I don't know if that is true or ever has been true. Similarly, the only International Airport that has air traffic controllers not speak English is Montreal. -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison
From: Howard Brazee on 12 Jul 2010 10:12 On 11 Jul 2010 11:21:51 GMT, billg999(a)cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote: >I remember working with a bunch of Turkish Army Officers at the US Army >Programmer school back in 1980. Imagine trying to offer assistance when >the COBOL statements are in English but all the "meaningful variable >names" are in Turkish. :-) I worked on a Vax system that used its English language dictionary when people created passwords. A French lady had no problem in creating passwords she could remember. (How long will we need to live with passwords? - they aren't safe) -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison
From: Bill Gunshannon on 12 Jul 2010 10:23 In article <8a0jo0FgplU1(a)mid.individual.net>, "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> writes: > Alistair wrote: >> The use of English and Spanish (I presume; No Habla Espanole) in this >> thread has made me wonder about the compilers used in non-English >> speaking countries: are they forced to use English or are there >> language options which allow the use of local languages? > > I worked with a French COBOL compiler many years ago (in France, of course). > I didn't like it, but then I would say that... :-) > > I also worked on a site in Germany where they said they had a German COBOL > compiler. I never saw it and nobody, to my knowledge, ever used it. > > I remember an old ICL 1900 COBOL compiler (might have been XEKB or Compact > COBOL... not sure, it was a long tme ago...) which allowed you to define > your own keywords, so it would have been quite feasible to compile COBOL in > ANY language (that used a Western alphabet.) ICL did a lot of business with > Eastern Europe so that feature might have been deployed there. Only two comments on all this COBOL/Language discussion. The only real problem is that unless the Standards Body actually approves Keyword Tables in other languages programs written using German, French, Spanish, etc. would not be COBOL. And, that being said, with the use of a Pre-processor (like cpp on most Unix systems) it is actually trivial to write programs using keywords in other languages. The only problem would be on coming to an agreement about what those keywords would be in each language. Hmmmm..... Maybe I'll take a shot at COBOL in German and see if it garners any respect. :-) bill -- Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves billg999(a)cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. University of Scranton | Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
From: Alistair on 12 Jul 2010 11:13
On Jul 11, 12:21 pm, billg...(a)cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote: > In article <26a0bca1-96a1-4019-b01f-b944d4239...(a)u26g2000yqu.googlegroups..com>, > Alistair <alist...(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> writes: > > > The use of English and Spanish (I presume; No Habla Espanole) in this > > thread has made me wonder about the compilers used in non-English > > speaking countries: are they forced to use English or are there > > language options which allow the use of local languages? > > If you mean for keywords, I have never seen one and doubt any compnay > has ever produced one. I have never seen an option for any Open Source > compiler that changed keywords into a lnaguage other than english. And, > actually, the same goes for Operating Systems. I have never seen one > with commands in anything but English. > > I remember working with a bunch of Turkish Army Officers at the US Army > Programmer school back in 1980. Imagine trying to offer assistance when > the COBOL statements are in English but all the "meaningful variable > names" are in Turkish. :-) > I did some support work for a Greek garage to correct the y2k problem. One program with English syntax and Greek data-items. So I am aware of the problem. |