Re: [Tiny-cobol-users] ACCEPT etc. WAS Segmentation Fault

[David E. <de...@us...>]

John Culleton wrote:

 > Unfortunately the cobcurses package contains
 > some wierd COBOL code that confuses my system.
 > Specifically there are literals full of tab characters
 > etc. that are so long that they overflow the line width.
 > This is in -free format per the Makefile.
 > Here is the first set of lines that causes the system
 > to blow up on "make":
 > 10  SCR-0015 PIC X(023)
 >     VALUE "
 >     3.Author:".

Strange.


 > The OC compiler sees the third line as an AUTHOR statement
 > (COBOL 68) and says it doesn't  meet COBOL 2002.  Well do tell.

Yes, OC defaults to the COBOL 2002 standard. Well parts of it anyway.
Have you tried using the '-std=cobol85' option.


 > Why there are tab characters in the middle of a COBOL
 > literal I cannot fully fathom.  I assume that they are
 > for positioning on the screen.
 > In legacy COBOL we used to use continuation characters
 > in column six for long literals but legacy is out of
 > style. Pity.
 >
 > So thanks for the suggestion but for me at least cobcurses
 > is more work than it is worth.

I haven't tried using 'cobcurses'. No time.

I'm surprised that you are experincing these sort of problems.
The developer is a COBOL programmer, and the application is based on a 
professional screen tool.


 > I used to get paid decent bucks for debugging someone else's
 > too too clever code but now I work for myself and I don't have
 > the time.

Yes, been there ...
I can assume you have encountered the '66 level ALTER statement' merry 
go round. Code who's real purpose was to ensure job security.

In any case it seams like a trivial but large bug of some sort.
May be worth your while to post it on the OC forum. I don't know if the 
developer subscribes to the OC mailing list.


 > My project objectives are fairly simple. Decades ago I wrote
 > a General Ledger package in RM COBOL. I have lost most of
 > the source code. The 8 inch floppies are in the bottom of
 > some landfill.
 > I want to recreate a useful GL package in COBOL and not
 > using Mysql etc.
 >
 > The one piece of code I still have is the program that created
 > a data file that when interpreted by a handler program would
 > display and accept a screen full of data.
 > It was a poor man's SCREEN SECTION if you will. RM COBOL of
 > course had positional ACCEPT and DISPLAY back in 1979 or so.
 > Basically I am starting from scratch, using the old user manual
 > and file layout as a loose guide.
 >
 > If I wanted to write the system in C or Perl, or Java, or Tcl/Tk
 > I would have done so.
 > I would like to write it in COBOL because I am far more fluent
 > in that language.

I can understand your point of view.
But using COBOL can be cumbersome and increase the amount of work.

For example you could use XHTML forms, and generate them using COBOL.


 > I am not familiar with MVC but I will google on it.

It is an acronym for Model View Controller. It was developed at X*rox 
Palo Alto, the same place were GUI's were born.

Simply put, it means that the application gets divided into 3 segments.
An interface (GUI, curses, etc.), a back end which does the actual work, 
and some glue which binds the two other segments together.


Cheers