The worst was one I heard about from a friend. In the days of punched cards. The programmer literally would write code:
A100. ADD +1 TO A. SUBTRACT B FROM C GIVING D. PERFORM A200. ADD +500 TO ANOTHER-VARIABLE. PERFORM B300. She said it was hell to repunch the cards. But the programmer insisted that "COBOL should read like a novel!" The programmer also felt that COMPUTE was a tool of the devil. -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * john.mck...@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List > [mailto:IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Turriff, Leslie > Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 2:08 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu > Subject: Re: SLightly O/T Perl > > I suspect that the COBOL code you're referring to was > crippled by poorly-chosen identifiers. Even the most > readable language can be made inscrutable by (im)prudent > choice of variable names. :-) > > Leslie Turriff > State of Missouri > Information Technology Services Division > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List > [mailto:IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of McKown, John > Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 13:53 > To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu > Subject: Re: SLightly O/T Perl > > It's better than APL. And depends on the coder not using > weird idioms. I've seen COBOL which is incomprehensible. > IIRC, COBOL was supposedly designed so that an English > speaking army private could write "clean" code. Which simply > proves that programmers can't speak English (properly). > > -- > John McKown > Systems Engineer IV > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html