You are right about being able to start statements as well as names in
column 8. It has been drummed in my head for so long that ya gotta start
division, section, and para. names in col. 8 and statements in column 12
that I thought it was a requirement.

On the other hand, reserving specific columns (1/6, 7) for specific
purposes sounds column-oriented to me :).

At 09:33 AM 6/21/2001 -0500, Shahan, Ray wrote:
>Dude,  COBOL is  NOT a column oriented language.  While columns 1/6 are
>reserved for line numbers, and column 7 for compiler directives and comment
>notation, columns 8 through 72 are whatever you wish.
>
>Starting DIVISION/PARAGRAPH/ETC. Headers in column 8 is simply for style as
>is the case for starting Procedure division statements in column 12.   You
>can code the "PROCEDURE DIVISION" statement to start in column 50 if you
>wish, and you can code a "MOVE" statement in column 8 is you so choose.
>
>This holds true for all the divisions too.
>
>:-)
>
>Ray Shahan
>

--------------------------------
Tom Brandt
Northtech Systems, Inc.
313 N. 1st Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
http://www.northtech.com/

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *