Re: COBOL ain't quite dead - yet !

Howard Brazee wrote:

Ever since we stopped needing sections for memory use, I have migrated
away from their use.

Sections do make it easier for the compiler to determine basic blocks
and build inflow/outflow graphs, so they can help with optimization. I
believe our optimization guide still recommends using sections for
out-of-line performs. (That is, other than in-line performs, you
always perform a section, rather than a paragraph or set of paragraphs.)

That prevents overlapping perform ranges, which fragment the blocks
and complicate the flow graph.

But to be honest, I don't know if the current optimizer still cares
about sections; with the style you describe, it ought to recognize
that paragraphs are always performed singly and know to treat them as
basic blocks. The optimizer is quite sophisticated, and it wouldn't
surprise me if the performance guide contains some advice that's
outdated but not actually detrimental.

--
Michael Wojcik
Micro Focus
Rhetoric & Writing, Michigan State University
.