From: bill.gunshannon@gmail.com   
      
   On 12/1/2025 8:44 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:   
   > On 12/1/2025 8:23 PM, bill wrote:   
   >> On 12/1/2025 6:50 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:   
   >>> New features within last 25 years besides OOP include:   
   >>> * recursion support   
   >>> * unicode support   
   >>> * pointers and dynamic memory allocation   
   >>> ^ XML support   
   >>> * collection classes   
   >>>   
   >>> Have you seen COBOL code using those?   
   >>   
   >> I have seen and used pointers but not in production code as at 75   
   >> I am not finding many places that want me to work.  :-)   
   >>   
   >> XML isn't really anything to do with the language it's a file   
   >> format. Probably has no place in the language itself.   
   >   
   > They did:   
   >   
   > ISO/IEC TR 24716:2007, Information technology -- Programming languages,   
   > their environment and system software interfaces -- Native COBOL Syntax   
   > for XML Support   
   >   
   > I have no idea what it does, so I don't know if it makes any sense.   
      
   Ivory tower types have always been shoving crap into COBOL.   
   Kinda like Ada.  Originally an US Air Force idea intended   
   to replace Jovial and other odd things used for things like   
   flying jets.  Then the committee got hold of it.  When the   
   first release came out the US Air Force refused to use it   
   even after the DOD Mandate.   
      
   >   
   >> UNICODE the same thing.  It could be done fairly easily with a library   
   >> but isn't really anything that COBOL had to have as a part of the   
   >> language.   
   >   
   > Good unicode support require support in both language and   
   > basic RTL.   
      
   Don't agree.  COBOL was intended to keep track of money, inventory,   
   personnel, etc.  UNICODE, per se,  brings nothing to the table for   
   any of that.  And, as designed, it did support alternate character   
   sets.   
      
   >   
   > As an example (I am not claiming that it is good support!!) see C++:   
   >   
   > std::string   
   > std::wstring   
   > std::u16string   
   > std::u32string   
   >   
   > "ABC"   
   > L"ABC"   
   > u8"ABC"   
   > u"ABC"   
   > U"ABC"   
   >   
   >> Wouldn't classes fall under OOP.   
   >   
   > Classes is part of OOP that was added in Cobol 2002.   
      
   And the COBOL Community refused to drink the Kool-Aid.   
   While there may actually be a place for OOP, the work   
   COBOL was intended to do isn't it.  Academia tried to   
   force it down everyone's throats and were outraged   
   when some refused. (And took their revenge which is   
   being felt more and more every day now!!)  I know a   
   number of massive ISes in use today that have been in   
   use for around a half century that were written in COBOL   
   and continue to function in COBOL. Lack of OOP hasn't   
   affected them at all.   
      
   >   
   > Collection classes was added in:   
   >   
   > ISO/IEC TR 24717:2009, Information technology -- Programming languages,   
   > their environments and system software interfaces -- Collection classes   
   > for programming language COBOL   
   >   
   > I have never seen it used and I do not know how they work. But if it is   
   > like collection classes in most other programming languages, then it   
   > is predefined container classes for list, map/dictionary etc..   
      
   Which does what for COBOL?   
      
   bill   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)