Two interesting (IMHO) ANSI (J4) Documents

There are two (working) documents on the J4 (COBOL) web site that I think th
ose
interested in "enhancements" to COBOL might be interested in - whether or no
t
their "vendor of choice" appears to be implementing the 2002 ISO COBOL
Standard - much less thinking about the (hoped for) 2008 COBOL Standard.

These both represent enhancements to the COBOL language that I can *imagine*
that vendors will implement whether or not they are implementing other new (
or
proposed) features from the '02 (or theoretical '08) ISO Standards.  Therefo
re,
I think those interested in COBOL may want to read about them now - and send
comments (if any) to J4 sooner than later.  If interested, communicate to th
e J4
chair at:

Don.Schricker <at> microfocus.com

See:
"04-0198- Any-length elementary items"
at:
http://www.cobolportal.com/j4/files/04-0198.doc
Summary:
""D.2.7   Any-length elementary items

A truly any-length elementary item of unlimited size can be defined by codin
g
the following picture format:

05  notes       PIC X ANY LENGTH.

If the item has a maximum length (n), ANY LENGTH LIMIT n is written or, if t
here
is no theoretical maximum length, ANY LENGTH is sufficient.

Any-length items may be national items, or bit items:
05  city-name           PIC 1 ANY LENGTH.
05  customer-name   PIC N ANY LENGTH.

When a new value is stored in an any-length elementary item, the item's leng
th
is automatically adjusted, subject to any maximum length.  For example,

MOVE "This product is no longer available" TO notes
..."

****

See:
"04-0197- Dynamic-capacity Tables"
at:
http://www.cobolportal.com/j4/files/04-0197.doc
Summary:
"D.2.6              Dynamic-capacity tables

A dynamic-capacity table (or "dynamic table") is a table whose physical size
,
known as its "capacity", grows dynamically as you add more entries to it.  I
ts
maximum capacity is limited only by the resources your implement_ation can m
ake
available.  Its capacity can also be reduced.  To improve the description an
d
the planning of memory resources, you can optionally indicate a minimum capa
city
and an expected capacity.  If the expected capacity is reached, you receive 
a
warning in the form of a non-fatal exception but, unless you terminate the
process, further entries will continue to be added."


****

Personally, I suggest you start reading the documents from the "Concepts"
section and review the (already) resolved issues before communicating any (n
ew)
concerns/issues to J4.


--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com

William M. Klein wrote:

>There are two (working) documents on the J4 (COBOL) web site that I think t
hose
>interested in "enhancements" to COBOL might be interested in - whether or n
ot
>
<snip>........

>See:
>   "04-0197- Dynamic-capacity Tables"
>at:
>  http://www.cobolportal.com/j4/files/04-0197.doc
>Summary:
>  "D.2.6              Dynamic-capacity tables
>
>A dynamic-capacity table (or "dynamic table") is a table whose physical siz
e,
>known as its "capacity", grows dynamically as you add more entries to it.  
Its
>maximum capacity is limited only by the resources your implement_ation can 
make
>available.  Its capacity can also be reduced.  To improve the description a
nd
>the planning of memory resources, you can optionally indicate a minimum cap
acity
>and an expected capacity.  If the expected capacity is reached, you receive
 a
>warning in the form of a non-fatal exception but, unless you terminate the
>process, further entries will continue to be added."
>
>
>
>
I was more than somewhat amused by your quote above. Seeing all the
effort John Piggott put into this..... - nudge, nudge - shouldn't
somebody have twigged the word *capacity* was completely missed from the
initial draft for Collections ? ("count" was substituted for "size" used
by both F/J and M/F).

Looks like J4  will have to be very specific about words/phrases -
'size',  'number of elements' and 'capacity' - so that there is no
ambiguity when switching between code for Dynamic Tables or Collections,
and that a given Procedural reserved word/OO method-name, executes code
in a parallel manner whether using D/Ts or Collections.

I will be commenting OO-wise.

Jimmy, Calgary AB

If I am reading the document correctly, then lets say I do something like
this:

FD  CUSTOMER-FILE.
01  CUSTOMER-RECORD.
05  CR-KEY         PIC X(9).
05  CR-LNAME       PIC X ANY LENGTH PREFIXED BY BINARY-CHAR.
05  CR-FNAME       PIC X ANY LENGTH PREFIXED BY BINARY-CHAR.
05  CR-MNAME       PIC X ANY LENGTH PREFIXED BY BINARY-CHAR.

MOVE '000000001' TO CR-KEY
MOVE 'FRANCIS' TO CR-FNAME
MOVE 'JOHN' TO CR-MNAME
MOVE 'SWARBRICK' TO CR-LNAME
WRITE CUSTOMER-RECORD

It looks to me like I'd end up with a file with a 32 byte record like:
000000001~SWARBRICK~FRANCIS~JOHN

Where each tilde (~) represents a byte holding the length of the 05-level
item that follows.  Or, for more compatibilty with C

FD  CUSTOMER-FILE.
01  CUSTOMER-RECORD.
05  CR-KEY         PIC X(9).
05  CR-LNAME       PIC X ANY LENGTH DELIMITED BY X'00'.
05  CR-FNAME       PIC X ANY LENGTH DELIMITED BY X'00'.
05  CR-MNAME       PIC X ANY LENGTH DELIMITED BY X'00'.

And I'd end up with
000000001SWARBRICK#FRANCIS#JOHN#

Where each pound symbol (#) represents a byte of hex zeroes.

I've got to say that on the surface it looks quite appealing!

I see some reference to how MOVE works in item "25. Changes to 14.8.24 MOVE
statement", but it doesn't appear to answer a question I have.  What if I
have the above as well as the following:

01  INPUT-FNAME  PIC X(40).

ACCEPT INPUT-FNAME
MOVE INPUT-FNAME TO CR-FNAME

Will CR-FNAME now have a length of 40?  Or (wish, wish) will it perhaps have
the length of the name entered *not including trailing spaces*?  The latter
would be wonderful, but I don't see that the document you gave says anything
either way.

Hmm, I just read more and it looks like this is probably not the case, but I
would instead use the new TRIM function as follows:

MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(INPUT-FNAME) TO CR-FNAME.

In fact, that would even eliminate leading spaces as well.  I like it!

I haven't read the whole document, but what I've read sounds great.  Not
that I'll ever see this on my COBOL platform, but I can always dream.

Thanks for posting this, Bill!


---
Frank Swarbrick
Senior Developer/Analyst - Mainframe Applications
FirstBank Data Corporation - Lakewood, CO  USA
 
There are two (working) documents on the J4 (COBOL) web site that I think
those
interested in "enhancements" to COBOL might be interested in - whether or
not
their "vendor of choice" appears to be implementing the 2002 ISO COBOL
Standard - much less thinking about the (hoped for) 2008 COBOL Standard.

These both represent enhancements to the COBOL language that I can *imagine*

that vendors will implement whether or not they are implementing other new
(or
proposed) features from the '02 (or theoretical '08) ISO Standards.
Therefore,
I think those interested in COBOL may want to read about them now - and send

comments (if any) to J4 sooner than later.  If interested, communicate to
the J4
chair at:

Don.Schricker <at> microfocus.com

See:
"04-0198- Any-length elementary items"
at:
http://www.cobolportal.com/j4/files/04-0198.doc
Summary:
""D.2.7   Any-length elementary items

A truly any-length elementary item of unlimited size can be defined by
coding
the following picture format:

05  notes       PIC X ANY LENGTH.

If the item has a maximum length (n), ANY LENGTH LIMIT n is written or, if
there
is no theoretical maximum length, ANY LENGTH is sufficient.

Any-length items may be national items, or bit items:
05  city-name           PIC 1 ANY LENGTH.
05  customer-name   PIC N ANY LENGTH.

When a new value is stored in an any-length elementary item, the item's
length
is automatically adjusted, subject to any maximum length.  For example,

MOVE "This product is no longer available" TO notes
..."

****

See:
"04-0197- Dynamic-capacity Tables"
at:
http://www.cobolportal.com/j4/files/04-0197.doc
Summary:
"D.2.6              Dynamic-capacity tables

A dynamic-capacity table (or "dynamic table") is a table whose physical
size,
known as its "capacity", grows dynamically as you add more entries to it.
Its
maximum capacity is limited only by the resources your implement-ation can
make
available.  Its capacity can also be reduced.  To improve the description
and
the planning of memory resources, you can optionally indicate a minimum
capacity
and an expected capacity.  If the expected capacity is reached, you receive
a
warning in the form of a non-fatal exception but, unless you terminate the
process, further entries will continue to be added."


****

Personally, I suggest you start reading the documents from the "Concepts"
section and review the (already) resolved issues before communicating any
(new)
concerns/issues to J4.


--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com