I know a lot of people would take this as a farcical question, but I really am this crazy. :-PããI'm looking for a good place to start learning COBOL. I have experience with a variety of older languages, but there isn't anything in particular that I have true fluency with other than BASIC. I've never been fond of OOP, but that could just be the autism prefering Structured and Procedural paradigms. I've tried to learn COBOL from the language spec, which worked OK for getting me to a point that I can read and understand programs, but I really would like to find a resource for learning to write them, even if it's for an older version of the language.ãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Cybertopia -- The reprise!ã

smartyhall wrote to All <=-ãã sm> I'm looking for a good place to start learning COBOL. I have experienceã sm> with a variety of older languages, but there isn't anything inã sm> particular that I have true fluency with other than BASIC.ããI studied CS in the late '80s, and there was a plethora of free languages ãfor DOS. I remember starting in Pascal and FORTRAN, then finding a LISP ãinterpreter and Modula-2 compilers available. And, of course, tons of ANSI C ãcompilers.ããI never saw a COBOL compiler, don't know if it was because of demand or ãhardware requirements - trying to think about the amount of work to get from ãCOBOL to X86 assembly boggles the mind.ããã... Have you ever asked a question you weren't supposed to ask?ã--- MultiMail/XT v0.52ã þ Synchronet þ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.orgã

Re: Re: COBOL for Beginnersã By: poindexter FORTRAN to smartyhall on Thu Dec 05 2019 07:10 amãã > I studied CS in the late '80s, and there was a plethora of free languagesã > for DOS. I remember starting in Pascal and FORTRAN, then finding a LISPã > interpreter and Modula-2 compilers available. And, of course, tons of ANSI Cã > compilers.ããWe did FORTRAN and COBOL in high school. Back in '80. We used this big epsidic (sp) machine to type out our punch cards. Then we would put them in theis huge collator and run them through and then we would print out if what we did was successful.ãIt never failed when you had about 100 cards for a major project and theãmachine sucks it up. Or you mistype that one letter.ãGreaseãdarmatt.synchro.netãã...I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wake-up letter.ãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Dark Matter BBS * darkmatt.synchro.net * Howdy from Texas!ã

I'm looking for a good place to start learning COBOL. I have experience with aã>ariety of older languages, but there isn't anything in particular that I have tã>ue fluency with other than BASIC. I've never been fond of OOP, but that could jã>st be the autism prefering Structured and Procedural paradigms. I've tried to lã>arn COBOL from the language spec, which worked OK for getting me to a point thaã> I can read and understand programs, but I really would like to find a resourceã>for learning to write them, even if it's for an older version of the language.ããCOBOL is actually the one language I am somewhat fluent in. Unfortunately,ãI am not sure where you find a place to learn it these days. I guess youãcan do what you might do for anything else like that -- buy a book, findãsome old class materials (like books), or maybe find a learning resource onãthe internet.ããA quick google search just pulled up a tutorial at tutorialspoint.com and aãsomewhat expensive book on murach.com. A search for "COBOL programming" onãamazon.com turns up several books (some expensive some not so much) on theãtopic of learning the language.ããI use it mostly at my job, but have also used to to write a few utilitiesãfor my DOS BBS, mostly for processing log files (plain text) and a fewãother things.ããã * SLMR 2.1a * Sushi: known to the rest of the world as 'Bait'ãã---ã þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTPã

smartyhall wrote to All <=-ãã sm> I know a lot of people would take this as a farcical question, but Iã sm> really am this crazy. :-Pãã sm> I'm looking for a good place to start learning COBOL.ããYa, you're crazy. 8)ããCOBOL is on the out and pretty much only on Mainframes (even then, there's notãmuch active development - primarily maintenance).ããBut if you really want to spend some time with it, there's GnuCOBOL, NetCOBOLãfor .Net, and probably more.ããI built an RC2014 (a Z80 based retrocomputer running CP/M 2.2) and I was ableãto locate a COBOL compiler on one of the software archives.ããSo a quick Google search should let you find what you need.ãã ã--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52ã þ Synchronet þ Diamond Mine Online BBS - bbs.dmine.net:24 - Fredericksburg, VA USAã

I never saw a COBOL compiler, don't know if it was because of demand orã> hardware requirements - trying to think about the amount of work to get fromã> COBOL to X86 assembly boggles the mind.ããThere was not a free one I know of, but IBM/MicroFocus had one. I bought aãcopy several years ago. IIRC, it would run on a 386. Not sure if it wouldãrun on less of a machine than that.ããThere are free ones now, for linux at least. I believe what they actuallyãdo is convert the COBOL source to another language and then compile it fromãthere.ããã * SLMR 2.1a * SHOCKING TRUTH: 50% of all people are below average....ãã---ã þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTPã

Re: Re: COBOL for Beginnersã By: Grease to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Dec 05 2019 04:25 pmãã > We did FORTRAN and COBOL in high school. Back in '80. We used this bigã > epsidic (sp) machine to type out our punch cards. Then we would put them inã > theis huge collator and run them through and then we would print out if whatã > we did was successful.ã > It never failed when you had about 100 cards for a major project and theã > machine sucks it up. Or you mistype that one letter.ã > GreaseããEBCDIC - Extended Binary Coded Decimalããa.k.a. Yet another bad idea in service of "customer retention." lolããI really should give FORTRAN another go. In any case, I long to one day have enough room for a card punch of my verry own. I've just about given up on my childhood dream of owning a fully-functional UNIVAC with drum storage though.ã--==--==--==--==--==--==--ã°±²CoSysOp for Cybertobiaãèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Cybertopia -- The reprise!ã

Re: COBOL for Beginnersã By: Dumas Walker to SMARTYHALL on Thu Dec 05 2019 04:51 pmãã > COBOL is actually the one language I am somewhat fluent in. Unfortunately,ã > I am not sure where you find a place to learn it these days. I guess youã > can do what you might do for anything else like that -- buy a book, findã > some old class materials (like books), or maybe find a learning resource onã > the internet.ã >ã > A quick google search just pulled up a tutorial at tutorialspoint.com and aã > somewhat expensive book on murach.com. A search for "COBOL programming" onã > amazon.com turns up several books (some expensive some not so much) on theã > topic of learning the language.ã >ã > I use it mostly at my job, but have also used to to write a few utilitiesã > for my DOS BBS, mostly for processing log files (plain text) and a fewã > other things.ã >ãI believe I've actually tried that tutorial before. Self-directed learning resources are always so hit and miss for me. Over the years, I've taught myself some crazy things just from reeding manuals, but for some subjects, I just end up needing some extra hand-holding.ã--==--==--==--==--==--==--ã°±²CoSysOp for Cybertobiaãèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Cybertopia -- The reprise!ã

Re: Re: COBOL for Beginnersã By: Dr. What to smartyhall on Fri Dec 06 2019 06:14 pmãã > -=> smartyhall wrote to All <=-ã >ã > sm> I know a lot of people would take this as a farcical question, but Iã > sm> really am this crazy. :-Pã >ã > sm> I'm looking for a good place to start learning COBOL.ã >ã > Ya, you're crazy. 8)ã >ã > COBOL is on the out and pretty much only on Mainframes (even then, there'sã > not much active development - primarily maintenance).ã >ã > But if you really want to spend some time with it, there's GnuCOBOL,ã > NetCOBOL for .Net, and probably more.ã >ã > I built an RC2014 (a Z80 based retrocomputer running CP/M 2.2) and I wasã > able to locate a COBOL compiler on one of the software archives.ã >ã > So a quick Google search should let you find what you need.ããI actually have a fondness for maintaining arcane and forgotten infrastructure, especially when the threat of imminent doom looms behind every mistake. I think that comes from all the time I've spent working in live video production in studios that had gone through one too many engineers that didn't ever take the time to clean up the spaghetti of cables and converters that tends to accrete in such environments.ããCP/M is an OS I haven't thought of in ages! Maybe I should just dust off a vintage computer from my collection and try retro COBOL. I never have spent that much time with CP/M, and I could do with learning more about pip. :-Pã--==--==--==--==--==--==--ã°±²CoSysOp for Cybertobiaãèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Cybertopia -- The reprise!ã

Re: Re: COBOL for Beginnersã By: Dumas Walker to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Fri Dec 06 2019 06:17 pmãã > > I never saw a COBOL compiler, don't know if it was because of demand orã > > hardware requirements - trying to think about the amount of work to getã > > from COBOL to X86 assembly boggles the mind.ã >ã > There was not a free one I know of, but IBM/MicroFocus had one. I bought aã > copy several years ago. IIRC, it would run on a 386. Not sure if it wouldã > run on less of a machine than that.ã >ã > There are free ones now, for linux at least. I believe what they actuallyã > do is convert the COBOL source to another language and then compile it fromã > there.ã >ãTranspilers often seem like the Great White Whale of computer science. It's so tempting to go down the path of...ããIf I just write a transpiler that turns this into an intermediate language that is more simple and elegant, I can easily write a compiler that handles that efficiently. Then, I can just advance that compiler and apply it to anything else I encounter in the future, just by writing a simple transpiler. I mean, what's so hard about BNF grammars and trans-language transformations?ãã:-Dã--==--==--==--==--==--==--ã°±²CoSysOp for Cybertobiaãèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìèìãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Cybertopia -- The reprise!ã

Re: Re: COBOL for Beginnersã > By: Dumas Walker to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Fri Dec 06 2019 06:17 pmãã > > > I never saw a COBOL compiler, don't know if it was because of demand orã > > > hardware requirements - trying to think about the amount of work to getã > > > from COBOL to X86 assembly boggles the mind.ãã > > There was not a free one I know of, but IBM/MicroFocus had one. I boughtã > > a copy several years ago. IIRC, it would run on a 386. Not sure if itã > > would run on less of a machine than that.ãã > > There are free ones now, for linux at least. I believe what theyã > > actually do is convert the COBOL source to another language and thenã > > compile it from there.ãã > Transpilers often seem like the Great White Whale of computer science. It'sã > so tempting to go down the path of...ãã > If I just write a transpiler that turns this into an intermediate languageã > that is more simple and elegant, I can easily write a compiler that handlesã > that efficiently. Then, I can just advance that compiler and apply it toã > anything else I encounter in the future, just by writing a simpleã > transpiler. I meanããI suppose you could always try Euphoria :-Pãhttp://www.rapideuphoria.com/ãã---ã þ Synchronet þ AlleyCat! BBS - http://alleycat.synchro.net:81ã

Re: Re: COBOL for Beginnersã By: smartyhall to Grease on Sat Dec 07 2019 04:04 amãã > EBCDIC - Extended Binary Coded Decimalã > a.k.a. Yet another bad idea in service of "customer retention." lolã > I really should give FORTRAN another go. In any case, I long to one day haveã > enough room for a card punch of my verry own. I've just about given up on myã > childhood dream of owning a fully-functional UNIVAC with drum storageã > though.ããOur high school had two of the machines. We would wait to type our cards. It never failed that you would be behind that guy that would hunt and peck on the keys. Unfortunately, that guy was me.ãã Greaseã darmatt.synchro.netãã...I want to write a mystery novel...or do I?ãã---ã þ Synchronet þ Dark Matter BBS * darkmatt.synchro.net * Howdy from Texas!ã

smartyhall wrote to Grease <=-ãã sm> EBCDIC - Extended Binary Coded DecimalããI always thought it stood for "Erase Backup, Chew Disk, Ignite Cards". Forãobvious reasons, only IBM used it. 8)ãã sm> I really should give FORTRAN another go. In any case, I long to one dayã sm> have enough room for a card punch of my verry own. I've just aboutã sm> given up on my childhood dream of owning a fully-functional UNIVAC withã sm> drum storage though.ããYou keep giving me ideas. Stop it.ããI lucked out today and the RS-232 HAT I purchased worked like a charm and I wasãable to connect my VT-320 terminal to one of my Raspberry PIs. I have a littleãconfiguring to do (install curses) to play my terminal games.ããBut now I was to write some FORTRAN just for fun.ããI already got the CBM BASIC interpreter running on it. Not quite like aãPET/C64, but pretty close.ãã ã--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52ã þ Synchronet þ Diamond Mine Online BBS - bbs.dmine.net:24 - Fredericksburg, VA USAã