I used to bad-mouth COBOL, and I still prefer languages that are less wordy. But I came somewhat reluctantly to see that it has its strengths. The one I think most important is that it encourages even novice programmers to organize their logic in what we used to call a "top-down" manner: This paragraph accomplish a certain task by executing paragraphs one through three, then two more, and this subparagraph executes subsubparagraphs, and so on. Forms good habits, I think.
--- Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 /* My life is in the hands of any fool who can make me lose my temper. -driving motto */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of scott Ford Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2020 12:55 I learned Assembler first and then Cobol and then some PL/1. I always felt each language had its strengths and weaknesses and all were like tools in a toolbox. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
