From: "Martijn Lievaart" <nobody AT greebo DOT orion DOT nl>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp,alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++,alt.lang.basic
Subject: Re: A small bussiness billing application
Date: 23 Jul 1999 17:18:22 GMT
Organization: EuroNet Internet
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Judson McClendon wrote in message <90_l3.4474$xN4 DOT 43628 AT news3 DOT mia>...
>As both a BASIC and COBOL (at least) programmer yourself, would
>you choose BASIC with no decimal variables over COBOL, to write
>financial applications, assuming both were available?


As a multi language programmer that wrote financial applications in (a.o.)
COBOL and BASIC, if I have to choose from those two, it'll be BASIC.

The only reason for choosing COBOL here would be portability. If portability
is of any concern, you can rule out BASIC anyhow, so your question becomes
non-sensible then.

I must admit I haven't looked at recent developments in COBOL, because I
consider it a braindead language anyhow. I appreciate that you wrote a
compiler and a p-code intterpreter in COBOL, but having written serious
financial calculation routines in COBOL made me decide that this language is
unsuited when calculations must be made beyond the trivial. (And those 5
line APL programs that were the prototypes would be over 1500 lines after
porting to COBOL!). And I also wrote (simple) interpreters to not write that
same report writing program for the umptieth time with just little
differences, so I consider myself a serious COBOL programmer (in rest).

However, they are both very low on my list of languages I would concider
anyhow. If portability was required, I'ld probably choose C, but other
candidates would be C++, FOCUS or any other 4GL that works with the database
at hand. Programming COBOL today is an excercise in futility imho.

Martijn
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