After Parrot, what next?

Tue Apr 10 00:51:03 EDT 2001

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.  The new language will be called Parabola.

From: "Ken Seehof" <kens at sightreader.com>

> Actually, COBOL has been a largely overlooked language.  It was once
> one of the most important programming languages on the planet.  It would
> be unfortunate to disregard its usefulness just because it is old.  The
> Parrot
> designers need to take this venerable language into account.  Among the
> many features of COBOL that have been lost in recent years are line
numbers
> and columnar structure (the latter having been kept in some versions of
> FORTRAN).  XML would allow the actual column arrangement to be decided
> later in a style sheet.  Maybe something like this:
>
> <WORK-AREAS column=01>
> <ARE-THERE-MORE-RECORDS column=05  heading=PIC=X(3) VALUE='YES'.>
> <IMPLEMENTATION column=08>
> <for>
>  <controlvariable>line</controlvariable>
>  <iteratorlist>getlines</iteratorlist>
>  <body>
>  <statement>
>  <print>line</print>
>  </statement>
>  </body>
> </for>
> </IMPLEMENTATION>
> </WORK-AREAS>
> <NO-MORE-RECORDS column=88 VALUE ='NO '>
> ..
>
> We need to learn to combine the best of both the old and the new.