On 2/08/2013 11:47 PM, John Gilmore wrote:
As it happens a PL/I generic statement can distinguish the two sorting
schemes in the example you cite very readily. The first has two
arguments, the second three, so that, simplistically,
declare generic_sort generic(sort1 when(*,*), sort2 when(*,*,*)) ;
does the job at compile time. (It can be done at execution time too,
but this is not the place for an explication of how.)
I'm not interested in compile time tricks. How would you code the
equivilent of the C qsort() function in PL/I?
Does the PL/I runtime even have such a function?
Your catholic taste in statement-level languages is admirable, much
less parochial than mine: I have never been able to include COBOL
among the languages I approve. I have, for my sins, had to confront a
good deal of it; but close acquaintance has not made me fonder of it.
What must be conceded is that the post-CODASYL language is improving.
It is useful to have substrings even if one must call them reference
modifications.
I made good money coding COBOL in the 90s so I approve of it. I write
code to put food on the table not for religious reasons.
I would rather be employed writing code in a language I dislike instead
of unemployed coding for fun. The more languages I
can master the more strings to my bow. Adaptability is important in the
software industry.
John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
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