> -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Farley, > Peter x23353 > Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 10:06 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: How bad is the EX instruction? > <snip> > > Notoriously NOT for the IBM COBOL compilers. I plead > ignorance for the PL/1 and Fortran compilers, but the C/C++ > compiler is the only current compiler in my personal > experience that actually exhibits a knowledge of instruction > timings and latency and AGI interrupts, etc., for current and > recent pipelined "z" processors. > > IMHO, COBOL generated code is so bad that if I was on the > COBOL code-generation development team I would be embarrassed > to admit it. >
I have been told that part of the reason for the "horrible" code emitted by the COBOL compiler is to guarantee 100% conformance to the ANSI standards. I don't know this for a fact. But COBOL was designed around __decimal__ arithmetic. And getting proper truncations and overflow notifications. So there may be something to this. And let's not even talk about the abomination of the PERFORM verb. Implementing that is a royal PITA, from what I can tell. Mainly because the end of any paragraph may, or may not, return to some other point in the code. Sometimes it "returns" to a PERFORM, and other times it "falls through" to the next paragraph. Oh my aching compiler. -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * [email protected] * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM
