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From: "Stephen Fuld" <SFuld@alumni.cmu.edu.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: ALTER, ASSIGN and labels-as-values (was: Unicode in strings)
Date: Mon, 27 May 2024 22:40:32 -0000 (UTC)
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John Savard wrote:

> The fact that an ALTER GOTO statement can change where a GOTO
> statement branches - without any indication within the GOTO statement
> itself that it may have other destinatiions than the primary one -


But that is not quite true.  The GOTO that is to altered must be the
only statement in a paragraph.  Since this construction has no other
obvious purpose, its presence gives a clue that it might have been
altered.


> means that this statement is an obvious method of inserting
> malicious code into the source code of a program.

And note that the paragraph that is the target of the altered GOTO
statement must be within the same program, so any code so executed must
be readily available for inspection.

 
> And indeed, given that COBOL is typically used for programs handling
> financial transactions, I have no doubt that it was so used.


Do you have any evidence of this?

> 
> I find this to be an example of incredibly irresponsible language
> design.


Was it irresponsible in Fortran?




-- 
 - Stephen Fuld 
(e-mail address disguised to prevent spam)