Cobol - Efficient timers in Net Express or Object COBOL

Author

Efficient timers in Net Express or Object COBOL

eselick

2006-05-24, 9:55 pm

Hi

I've been looking at the threads here and haven't found a clear answer
to the question:

Is there or is it possible to implement an efficient timer control,
class or algorithim in either of these products?

By efficient I mean something that does not use a hard loop and will
not eat CPU cycles. In most of the Microsoft family of Visual products
visual timer controls are part of the product offering and these seem
to be designed using system api's rather than loops so that overall
performance is not degraded.

Does Micro Focus have anything that's equivalent?

Thanks

Elliot

Michael Mattias

2006-05-24, 9:55 pm

"eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1148480928.355811.205830@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> I've been looking at the threads here and haven't found a clear answer
> to the question:
>
> Is there or is it possible to implement an efficient timer control,
> class or algorithim in either of these products?
>
> By efficient I mean something that does not use a hard loop and will
> not eat CPU cycles. In most of the Microsoft family of Visual products
> visual timer controls are part of the product offering and these seem
> to be designed using system api's rather than loops so that overall
> performance is not degraded.
>
> Does Micro Focus have anything that's equivalent?

If you are on Windows and you feel up to using the Windows' API directly,
the timer objects created by the CreateTimer and CeateWaitableTimer
functions are what the MS-Visual Anything 'native' functions use (see these
functions in your Windows' API reference).

Both utilize the normal thread-switching alogrithms of the Windows Operating
system, essentially checking timer status at the same time it is checking
that another thread may run.. that is, there is no "looping" other than what
the operating system does anyway to parcel out CPU time amongst all users.

No, I don't know how to implement these using the Microfocus / Net Express
product(s), but I'm sure you can make WinAPI calls, so there simply must be
a way to do it; perhaps someone here can point you in the right direction.

(FWIW, IMNSHO Microsoft Visual Anything is designed for those less capable
than the audience here).

--
Michael Mattias
Tal Systems, Inc.
Racine WI
mmattias@talsystems.com

eselick

2006-05-24, 9:55 pm

Thanks Michael

Are you aware of any example code for doing API calls in general in Net
Exress?

Elliot

Michael Mattias

2006-05-24, 9:55 pm

"eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1148487127.608914.235600@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks Michael
>
> Are you aware of any example code for doing API calls in general in Net
> Exress?

Nah.

I ain't done no COBOL for more than five years, and all that was procedural
"batch-type" or "console display-accept" type code.

But if you can figure out how to call a standard DLL you can do it, because
that's all the WinAPIs are, a bunch (make that, "a **WHOLE** bunch) of
functions in a bunch of DLLs.

That said, if you are hooking into window procedures, then you may have to
watch out for 'compiler-specific' quirks... much as you have to do with
Microsoft Visual Anything.

(Adding a little shameless self-promotion)...let's say find what you need
for calling a function in a DLL, but are just not comfortable using all the
system objects... you could always contract with someone who does understand
those things, who could create for you a DLL with all the functions you need
using the syntax you want.... someone like, well, myself.

MCM

Simon Tobias

2006-05-24, 9:55 pm

"eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1148487127.608914.235600@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks Michael
>
> Are you aware of any example code for doing API calls in general in Net
> Exress?

Hi Elliot,

If you look under the Micro Focus SupportLine site at
http://supportline.microfocus.com/e...mp.asp#Win32API ,
you will find a variety of examples of calling Windows APIs. (You may need
to register/login to access this page).

Hope this helps.

SimonT.

eselick

2006-05-25, 6:55 pm

Thanks for the help everyone.

I think I'm going to run my COBOL program from an external scheduler.
Why reinvent the wheel?

Elliot

Michael Mattias

2006-05-25, 6:55 pm

"eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1148575967.527613.67520@j73g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> I think I'm going to run my COBOL program from an external scheduler.
> Why reinvent the wheel?

Because Real Men don't need no stinkin' external schedulers.

MCM

eselick

2006-06-01, 6:55 pm

Oh well I guess I'll just have to email you a nasty reply in hex ...

Michael Mattias wrote:
> "eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1148575967.527613.67520@j73g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Because Real Men don't need no stinkin' external schedulers.
>
> MCM

Michael Mattias

2006-06-01, 6:55 pm

"eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149171778.449367.202680@c74g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Oh well I guess I'll just have to email you a nasty reply in hex ...

How nasty can you get restricted to the letters A, B, C, D, E and F?

(oh-oh, that was asking for it, wasn't it?)

MCM

Donald Tees

2006-06-01, 6:55 pm

eselick wrote:
> Oh well I guess I'll just have to email you a nasty reply in hex ...
>
> Michael Mattias wrote:
>
>
>

Is that the same as sending a hex by email?

Donald
;< )

Michael Wojcik

2006-06-27, 6:55 pm

In article <bcDfg.10558$VE1.9419@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>, "Michael Mattias" <michael.mattias@gte.net> writes:
> "eselick" <eselick@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1149171778.449367.202680@c74g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> How nasty can you get restricted to the letters A, B, C, D, E and F?

Time to resurrect my 1995 comp.unix.aix "hex words" post?

-----
Don McCrady wrote:
> I'm sure 0xdeadbeef is just a nice memorable garbage value to
> initialize registers to, so that if one is accidentally used as a
> pointer, you can be reasonably sure that it's going to cause a core
> dump. Besides that, it's a lot more politically correct than
> 0xbabeface and 0xdeadbabe.

You left out 0xbabeabed (hey, he started it).

I don't remember anyone on this thread mentioning AIX's 0xbadca11 in
stack traces. (I think someone did mention 0xdeadc0de.)

When you start using 1 as "l" and 0 as "o", and allowing shorter
words by omitting leading 0s (as in 0xbadca11), possibilites abound:

- 0xacc01ade, which you might initialize memory to if you want to
reward your out-of-bounds checking code
- 0xb01dface to make those memory errors stand out
- 0xaffab1e if it's not really an important memory error
- 0xdebac1e if it is
- 0xbad1dea when it's a design error
- 0xa1fa1fa to 0xfeed all that 0xbeef before it dies
- 0xfa110ff when you trace the stack back a little too far...
- 0x0ff10ad if you're using an ICE
- 0xbabb1e because "GIGO" is tough to represent in hex[1]
- 0xc0ffee when it's time for an extra cup (try the 0xcafe)
- 0xc0bb1e, which is how you put your code together, unless
- 0xd00d1e and 0xdabb1e is
- 0xdec0de, since you didn't 0xc0de right in the first place
- 0xfacade and 0xfeeb1e -- more trenchant analysis

The end result, of course, is that you're going to 0xcedeface if
these show up in your code.
-----

[1] Though, after 11 years' sober reflection, it occurs to me that
x'6160' is a reasonable "GIGO".

--
Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@microfocus.com

It's like being shot at in an airport with all those guys running
around throwing hand grenades. Certain people function better with
hand grenades coming from all sides than other people do when the
hand grenades are only coming from inside out.
-- Dick Selcer, coach of the Cinci Bengals

Jeff Campbell

2006-06-27, 6:55 pm

Michael Wojcik wrote:
> In article <bcDfg.10558$VE1.9419@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>, "Michael Mattias" <michael.mattias@gte.net> writes:
>
> Time to resurrect my 1995 comp.unix.aix "hex words" post?
>
> -----
> Don McCrady wrote:
>
> You left out 0xbabeabed (hey, he started it).
>
> I don't remember anyone on this thread mentioning AIX's 0xbadca11 in
> stack traces. (I think someone did mention 0xdeadc0de.)
>
> When you start using 1 as "l" and 0 as "o", and allowing shorter
> words by omitting leading 0s (as in 0xbadca11), possibilites abound:
>
> - 0xacc01ade, which you might initialize memory to if you want to
> reward your out-of-bounds checking code
> - 0xb01dface to make those memory errors stand out
> - 0xaffab1e if it's not really an important memory error
> - 0xdebac1e if it is
> - 0xbad1dea when it's a design error
> - 0xa1fa1fa to 0xfeed all that 0xbeef before it dies
> - 0xfa110ff when you trace the stack back a little too far...
> - 0x0ff10ad if you're using an ICE
> - 0xbabb1e because "GIGO" is tough to represent in hex[1]
> - 0xc0ffee when it's time for an extra cup (try the 0xcafe)
> - 0xc0bb1e, which is how you put your code together, unless
> - 0xd00d1e and 0xdabb1e is
> - 0xdec0de, since you didn't 0xc0de right in the first place
> - 0xfacade and 0xfeeb1e -- more trenchant analysis
>
> The end result, of course, is that you're going to 0xcedeface if
> these show up in your code.
> -----
>
> [1] Though, after 11 years' sober reflection, it occurs to me that
> x'6160' is a reasonable "GIGO".
>

LOL!

The DEC (RIP) Alpha (RIP) SRM console has a background process that traps memory
errors. A PS (process status) display identifies these processes (there may be more
than one) as "BeefEater waiting on 0xdeadbeef".

Jeff Campbell
n8wxs@arrl.net

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http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
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Vivian

2006-06-28, 6:55 pm

Ok, let's just say I wanted to initialize the value to 0xbad1dea,
because, well, we have that sense of humor... How would I get
MicroFocus to allow a multi-byte directive instead of DEFAULTBYTE"xx"?
Seems to be the best I can do from below is sound like a sheep with BA
(BABABABA).

Michael Wojcik wrote:
> In article <bcDfg.10558$VE1.9419@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>, "Michael Mattias" <michael.mattias@gte.net> writes:
>
> Time to resurrect my 1995 comp.unix.aix "hex words" post?
>
> -----
> Don McCrady wrote:
>
> You left out 0xbabeabed (hey, he started it).
>
> I don't remember anyone on this thread mentioning AIX's 0xbadca11 in
> stack traces. (I think someone did mention 0xdeadc0de.)
>
> When you start using 1 as "l" and 0 as "o", and allowing shorter
> words by omitting leading 0s (as in 0xbadca11), possibilites abound:
>
> - 0xacc01ade, which you might initialize memory to if you want to
> reward your out-of-bounds checking code
> - 0xb01dface to make those memory errors stand out
> - 0xaffab1e if it's not really an important memory error
> - 0xdebac1e if it is
> - 0xbad1dea when it's a design error
> - 0xa1fa1fa to 0xfeed all that 0xbeef before it dies
> - 0xfa110ff when you trace the stack back a little too far...
> - 0x0ff10ad if you're using an ICE
> - 0xbabb1e because "GIGO" is tough to represent in hex[1]
> - 0xc0ffee when it's time for an extra cup (try the 0xcafe)
> - 0xc0bb1e, which is how you put your code together, unless
> - 0xd00d1e and 0xdabb1e is
> - 0xdec0de, since you didn't 0xc0de right in the first place
> - 0xfacade and 0xfeeb1e -- more trenchant analysis
>
> The end result, of course, is that you're going to 0xcedeface if
> these show up in your code.
> -----
>
> [1] Though, after 11 years' sober reflection, it occurs to me that
> x'6160' is a reasonable "GIGO".
>
> --
> Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@microfocus.com
>
> It's like being shot at in an airport with all those guys running
> around throwing hand grenades. Certain people function better with
> hand grenades coming from all sides than other people do when the
> hand grenades are only coming from inside out.
> -- Dick Selcer, coach of the Cinci Bengals

Michael Wojcik

2006-06-28, 6:55 pm

In article <1151520188.857525.121740@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, "Vivian" <vsaegesser@infogix.com> writes:
> Ok, let's just say I wanted to initialize the value to 0xbad1dea,
> because, well, we have that sense of humor... How would I get
> MicroFocus to allow a multi-byte directive instead of DEFAULTBYTE"xx"?
> Seems to be the best I can do from below is sound like a sheep with BA
> (BABABABA).

I think you'd have to use an explicit VALUE clause for each item
(with either x"bad1dea" or h"bad1dea", depending on the item's
definition, and truncated or repeated as necessary for length), or
you'd have to set it at runtime with MOVE (probably combined with
pointer operations and/or reference modification).

Pity, as I rather like the idea of a DEFAULTWORD directive. Office
applications could have their areas initialized to "0ff1ce". Timer
routines to "c1cada". If you don't like your manager, tell the world
by initializing areas with "b00ba1de". Do a little advertising for
"c0cac01a". Implement runtime licensing with "addedfee".

--
Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@microfocus.com

I said, 'I need to put my soul into my work and it is well known that
computers haven't got a soul.' My father said, 'The Americans are working
on it.' -- Sue Townsend, _The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4_

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