In the VSE arena, we still have a lot of FCOBOL stuff out there at a lot
of sites. I am working with one of they right now to help plan a conversion.
Tony Thigpen
-----Original Message -----
From: Steve Comstock
Sent: 03/03/2014 12:40 PM
On 3/3/2014 10:33 AM, Ed Jaffe wrote:
On 3/3/2014 8:01 AM, John Gilmore wrote:
I don't use rhetoricons. They're self-defeating. The intent of the
comment Paul Schuster quotes was, however, whimsical..
MIXED CASE PROVIDES AN AUTHOR OR PROGRAMMER WITH ACCESS TO TWICE AS MANY
GLYPHS AS UPPERCASE ONLY. AS JOHN EHRMAN POINTED OUT (WITH CITATIONS),
STUDIES SHOW THAT READABILITY IS IMPROVED. COULD YOU IMAGINE READING A
PAPERBACK NOVEL IN ALL UPPERCASE? IT WOULD BE VERY TIRING! FOCUSING
EXCLUSIVELY ON PROGRAMMING, I PARTICULARLY LIKE THE WAY UPPERCASE
CONTROL BLOCK ACRONYMS AND OTHER HEADINGS STAND OUT AMONG MIXED CASE
COMMENTS. OF COURSE, I CONSIDER FREEDOM OF CHOICE TO BE A GOOD THING
AND, FOR THIS REASON, I VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THE EXISTENCE OF
CASE-INSENSITIVE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES (LIKE HLASM) THAT ALLOW ANY CASE
TO BE SPECIFIED BY THE PROGRAMMER, BASED ON PERSONAL PREFERENCE. SUCH
LANGUAGES TAKE EXTRA "TROUBLE" TO INTERNALLY FOLD SYMBOLS TO UPPERCASE
WHEN DOING HASH TABLE LOOKUPS OR OTHER COMPARISONS INVOLVING A SYMBOLIC
NAME. PERSONALLY, WHEN I WRITE IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS, I FEEL LIKE I'M
SHOUTING -- BUT MAYBE THAT'S JUST ME. IN ANY CASE (NO PUN INTENDED), I
THINK IT WOULD BE A VALUABLE EXERCISE FOR FOLKS THAT ADAMANTLY PREFER
UPPERCASE EXCLUSIVITY IN THEIR PROGRAMS TO SPEND A FEW WEEKS AUTHORING
LETTERS, EMAIL, PROGRAMMING DOCUMENTATION, AND OTHER HUMAN-READABLE TEXT
DOCUMENTS IN UPPERCASE TO SEE JUST HOW MUCH IS LOST...
--
EDWARD E JAFFE
PHOENIX SOFTWARE INTERNATIONAL, INC
831 PARKVIEW DRIVE NORTH
EL SEGUNDO, CA 90245
HTTP://WWW.PHOENIXSOFTWARE.COM/
All my COBOL courses teach writing code in mixed case. Often I find
customers who tell me the shop standard is still all uppercase.
When I use the "all uppercase makes feel like I'm shouting" line,
I often get back "lowercase is like whispering".
Sigh.
-Steve Comstock
