Dale Smith's post is admirable; but it is worth noting that his use of 88 levels is, as he himself concedes, suboptimal.
Even, for example, for the alternatives 'START' and 'STOP' there are respectively 2^5 = 32 and 2^4 = 16 case variants to enumerate; and if now we admit 'TERGIVERSATE' as an alternative too, there are 2^12 = 4096 case variants to consider and enumerate. "Of that way madness lies, let me shun it". It is possible to do wondrous things in COBOL, but they must be done by means that are handicraft ones: The product is much more sophisticated than the tools used to make it. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA Avant d'imprimer cet e-mail, réfléchissons à l'impact sur l'environnement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
