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From: jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: COBOL, Article on new mainframe use
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2024 15:21 +0100 (BST)
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In article <20240823115440.0000782b@yahoo.com>, already5chosen@yahoo.com
(Michael S) wrote:

> I simply don't see how mere syntax difference between COBOL and 
> Pascal, which by itself is not particularly terse or particularly 
> expressive, could alone account for such massive reduction in the 
> size of the program text.

COBOL is exceptionally verbose and un-expressive. It makes elementary
logic very long-winded. I don't think it was specifically designed to
make simple programming tasks look like vast intellectual feats to
managers who don't understand what their staff are doing, but it does
that job quite well. 

John