Walter Murray <[log in to unmask]> writes:
 
>Does this mean something beyond what COBOL already provides?
>Or does this mean just providing the functionality COBOL has
>in a set of intrinsics that could be called from other languages
>as well?
 
I guess what we're looking for here is a consistent (similar interface) and
coherent (same i nternal strcutures)
set of routines which will do:
   i)  Date conversions (Julian<->Gregorian<->??)
  ii)  Date differences (# Days between 2 dates, Date fater +/- n days)
 iii)  DayOfWeek for a date
  iv)  Relevance to HP's own internal data structures for dates (&times?)
 
And (as noted above) the issue of date also brings up the question of time,
too.
So I guess we should expect a standard date-time data structure? My own
preference is a COBOL PIC S9(13) COMP-3.
Ah well - I was never able to defen the charge of being a dinosaur!
 
What other ideas can we come up with for use fule date/time intrinsics?