On Tue, 28 Mar 1995 11:45:05 -0500 Clifford Williams said:
>At 10:14 AM 3/28/95 EST, Jeff Kell wrote:
>>On Fri, 24 Mar 1995 15:26:08 GMT Gary Peck said:
>>>If anyone has any ideas on how I could speed up the performance, or If it
>>>is even possible to open the database once in the subprogram and keep it
>>>open for future processing your help would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Don't think that way.  Look into the nested programming techniques in the
>>newer COBOL-II/iX manual -- it was a fairly recent addition (well, a few
>>years ago).  It is a welcome breath of fresh air for this musty language.
>>
>Never having tried putting the database access in a subprogram it sounds
>like a good idea to me.  Jeff, could you explain why it shouldn't be tried?
 
I didn't mean don't do it, or it won't work; it's just "awkward" now.
 
>Gary, if it is too much trouble to "nest" the programs, you could use
>EXTERNAL areas in nearly the same way as GLOBAL.
>    01 GROUP      is EXTERNAL.
>in both the main program and the soubprogram so that both use the same
>area.  I have to agree that it is easier to use globals in nested programs.
>There aren't as many things to go wrong.
 
In retrospect, I suppose "reverse-engineering" would be rather painful,
depending on the amount of data declarations local to the subprograms.
 
You also don't have to have "one file" either.  You can keep your
subroutines in separate files, and have the main program $INCLUDE them
at the end.  You can often share/re-use code within a given system this
way, and is more convenient than cut-and-paste sections from existing
code.
 
[\] Jeff Kell, [log in to unmask]