Re: Where are spaces required in COBOL source code?

Chuck Stevens wrote:
> <epc8@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1117154259.996313.163080@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Please note that the first language I learned was FORTRAN using
> > fixed-form (punched card) format. There spaces are only meaningful
> > inside string literals.
>
> Getting as much as possible accomplished on a single line of source code
> used to be considered the hallmark of Expert Coding. This has passed out of
> favor -- even in languages where it is common like FORTRAN and ALGOL --
> because it's rarely very readable and often difficult to maintain. It's
> not just FORTRAN.
>

Maybe Dijkstra was correct. I'm guilty on at least 3 counts. (FORTRAN,
APL, and BASIC.) Perhaps I've found the programmer's "Twinkie defense"
.... "But your honor, I once programmed in BASIC."

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655-S00/readings/ewd498.html

Alas, he has something very nasty to say about COBOL.

.

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