Greetings,

I'm sorry I wasn't able to contribute earlier.  I've had to be away for
a couple of weeks.

Matthew Perdue wrote:

[snip]

> "COBLIST" is the formal file designator ... [snip]

> Ask Walter if this was an ANSI requirement to meet the Cobol committee
> requirements... that COBLIST be the formal designator and the compiler
> require the parameter. I'm pretty sure Walter is still on the list,
and as
> we know he wrote the compiler.

I didn't see a smiley, so I hope nobody got the wrong impression from
that last sentence.  

HP COBOL II was written by a team of talented people long before I
became involved in supporting it.  For a few years, I was the principal
engineer providing lab support for the compiler, but it's a very solid
product and required little support.  (American readers will appreciate
a reference to the "Maytag repairman".)

As to the ANSI (or ISO) requirements, I can address that.  I represented
Hewlett-Packard on the standards committee for several years, and
contributed a little to the creation of the 2002 revision of the COBOL
standard.  The standard does not address such things as how the compiler
is invoked, or how source, object, and listing files are specified.

Walter  

Walter J. Murray

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