From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,ef0074ec236ba6e3 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,ef0074ec236ba6e3 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,b19fa62fdce575f9 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,ef0074ec236ba6e3 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 108717,ef0074ec236ba6e3 X-Google-Attributes: gid108717,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-12-11 19:07:04 PST Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!news1.digex.net!digex.net!not-for-mail From: wayned@cpcug.org (Wayne Dernoncourt) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.programming,comp.lang.c++,comp.object Subject: Re: COBOL origin Date: 11 Dec 1994 22:06:45 -0500 Organization: Capital PC User Group, Inc., Rockville, Maryland, USA Distribution: usa Message-ID: References: <3aa7jo$7j@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> <3be9as$jrh@felix.seas.gwu.edu> <1994Nov29.182445.6678@eos.arc.nasa.gov> <1994Nov30.221351.2917@nosc.mil> NNTP-Posting-Host: cpcug.org Xref: bga.com comp.lang.ada:8514 comp.lang.c:34286 comp.programming:5781 comp.lang.c++:40553 comp.object:9713 Date: 1994-12-11T22:06:45-05:00 List-Id: In article <1994Nov30.221351.2917@nosc.mil>, mshapiro@nosc.mil (Michael D Shapiro) wrote: > In article <1994Nov29.182445.6678@eos.arc.nasa.gov>, > IanMaclure wrote: > >mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes: > > > >>In article , > >>Robert I. Eachus wrote: > >I'm trying to remember what Admiral Grace Hopper said about COBOL but all > >I can remember is that she felt a certain amount of proprietary pride in it. > >She did specifically mention that she had some of the ratings ( thats enlisted > >types ) in her organization produce a compiler at one point. > >COBOL may have originated with the Navy perhaps with her office? > >And yes COBOL cannot be said to have evolved like Ada, of course if the > >space program had "evolved" like Ada there'd still be flame wars over whether > >or not to put windows in the capsules and an actual launch would be years > >away. > The story, as I recall, is that the computer makers, each of > which had a commercial programming language, could not get > together for fear of antitrust suits. To get around the hurdle > calling the conference and coordinating the work went to the > group with Grace Hopper. Later she managed the team that > developed the COBOL validation process, later transfered to > NIST. Yeah but I think you're missing the question. What did she say about COBOL. I had the honor of hearing her talk a couple of times and she said that no language should be around forever. She also threatened everyone that if we ever said "But that's the way we've always done it", that whe would materialize beside us and hit us. I think she was proud of the work that she had done with COBOL, but she was saddened that people couldn't let go of an old language and embrace a replacement language (COBOL 74 & COBOL 85 bear little resemblance to the original). The Navy team developed a test suite to verify the compliance of a vendors implementation, after the testing function was transferred to NIST, NIST replaced the lines that said "test programs developed by the US Navy", with ones that said "test programs developed by NIST" (or something like that, may not have been developed), she raised hell and it was changed back to US Navy. The last time I heard her talk was either at a trade show held in Washington, DC trying to sell stuff to the feds, or at a CASE workshop put on by a Navy command (NAVSEA - I think) - in either case, she had retired and was working for DEC [rumor was that Ken Olsen wanted someone working at DEC that was older than he was]. She wanted to see a interface standard develop that would let CASE tools work together. Her analogy was screwdrivers and screws. There were different types of screws from a lot of different vendors, but most times you could find a screwdriver from a different set of vendors that would make it work. Enough reminiscing. -- Take care | This clown speaks for himself, his job doesn't Wayne D. | pay for this, etc. (directly anyway)