IBM had existing computer peripherals to be compatible with, including 7 bit tape. ASCII was just beginning to be developed. An ASCII flag was created but not used.
Most instructions treat data as characters. Instructions are needed for each numeric data type. Conversion from characters to / from numbers need to know what character is what number and how to convert.. On Mon, Jan 5, 2026 at 8:50 PM Paul Gilmartin <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 14:57:41 -0500, Phil Smith III wrote: > > >Interesting. A problem is that this requires converting хорошо to hex > >(presumably big-endian, which is at least one reason the U+ format > >exists--it's unambiguous). Of course using the U+ format requires converting > >хорошо to those values, so maybe it's a wash, not sure. > > > >The good news, of course, is that there are lots of tools available to do > >these conversions. > > > It don't haffta be so hard! I installed GNU cobol on my laptop and > taught myself enough COBOL to RTFM and add one line to > a sample I found on the net: > **************************************** > IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. > PROGRAM-ID. hello. > PROCEDURE DIVISION. > DISPLAY "Hello, world!". > DISPLAY 'Hello; Привет, мир'. > STOP RUN. > **************************************** > Compiling issued numerous warnings, which I ignored. > Then execution: > 594 $ ./hello > Hello, world! > Hello; Привет, мир > 595 $ > > The problem is EBCDIC masochism. MVS programmers > steadfastly deny there's something better. > A half century ago, IBM "bet the company" on punched > cards and users have suffered ever since. Wake up! > > -- > gil > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
