> Firstly, evidence of IBM's plans to make V5 (and onwards) more compatible > with how V4 works. > > http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1PI59330 > > "In earlier versions of COBOL, customer source frequently handled > dynamically sized pieces of storage by using a PIC X(1) linkage section data- > item and then reading or writing beyond the bounds of that array. This APAR > will add this type of support to COBOL V5 to make the behavior consistent > with COBOL V4. > > LINKAGE Example: > > WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. > 01 wrk-len PIC s9(08) binary. > LINKAGE SECTION. > 01 L-String1 PIC X(1). > 01 L-String2 PIC X(1). > PROCEDURE DIVISION. > 0000-MAIN. > MOVE 1000 TO wrk-len > MOVE L-String1(1:wrk-len) TO L-String2(1:wrk-len) > > Behavior difference: COBOL V4 moves 1000 bytes. COBOL V5 moves 232 > bytes due to differing instructions.
We have lots of COBOL that does exactly this. I voiced our concerns to Tom Ross (aka Captain COBOL) on a GSE COBOL WorkGroup meeting in January. Tom was there and gave presentations about COBOL v5 and ABO. Very interesting to meet him and hear him speak. At that time he seemed to be aware of these differences between COBOL v4 and v5 but seemed inclined to see this as the customers problem. I'm glad they fixed this. It would have made the migration to v5 almost impossible for us. It is hard enough without such issues. Fred! ---------------------------------------------------------------- ATTENTION: The information in this e-mail is confidential and only meant for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient , don't use or disclose it in anyway. Please let the sender know and delete the message immediately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
