From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mail-ed1-x534.google.com (mail-ed1-x534.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4864:20::534]) by sourceware.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8E84A3858CDB for ; Sat, 18 Mar 2023 13:23:11 +0000 (GMT) DMARC-Filter: OpenDMARC Filter v1.4.2 sourceware.org 8E84A3858CDB Authentication-Results: sourceware.org; dmarc=pass (p=none dis=none) header.from=gmail.com Authentication-Results: sourceware.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=gmail.com Received: by mail-ed1-x534.google.com with SMTP id y4so30488542edo.2 for ; Sat, 18 Mar 2023 06:23:11 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20210112; t=1679145790; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=78HetqVpPn4k4PQAcdX5tuKTFK3UV7RJDIvhP1fHXAE=; b=YDOziNgSmw+O1EVhWr2PWdxbvp/yiWQAnMby7/V0KMPG8k/010gcFu5uTFsQ5FhG/g tKnZGr1qyhj57oMdrxntxLpHMcM6c5+kLBx92rfKnMa2Cq7AbOB90BDkM0Epl0rTV1/5 TyV60eazHCv7y8si8Y7yVQpbJ+4N3JDyhoieBk8XjZvWcIY0DCLnRznFXXvZYBfk+aNV oVpEY/7+1kg8EjQEIkSjAvjG6gi9U2JR2es5ARyetnRvbYe6FLBvZHcWRrOh8FikNOm1 eGhoxWWlD9QUCAg2WHRliDrsraYi83iRX0ngrQ5GfqNIZSEnspzRk3/yqcDZL4+C4Qkq 0u7Q== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; t=1679145790; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :reply-to; bh=78HetqVpPn4k4PQAcdX5tuKTFK3UV7RJDIvhP1fHXAE=; b=yr9MGTjsXzbsJBF+F7ZfTKk0ibpd+0UDdHterBUJsQ5pjQjKDwPXnoPXkNs3iAdLnU +ZX7YQCSH/2QUOS47PnqVV/52e53VzgMlW9zFoQfcTupjYjNdqWMfpp9HsGC74OvuHMp oyWccsZ2f6OL+a7E1+uHKuyUHuEcJMgemnEA50AsRh4xCFhjT13dZ7nlC+VbzDAW5Qxn UGKDWIkM6EMJWPU+yjpToyOGaC5v17kCz6z4V4XRzW/u/zYCCyjHACY/KAHMHMeildRR kCwshiA/mB4Yv5LdAsjUpBFG8fl+fh5cBEo9sq35RKCNRlvVCiTgXOS7SiuiT9FPIfy4 bmmg== X-Gm-Message-State: AO0yUKVgs2p+vWPWmNhOSAR5TpF2PoQs9iyoesxIqS4ZmdaAnq9bNqRQ cy1IvcibQ18XbiB6CZedwBJfPMzj7zsolqw3znY= X-Google-Smtp-Source: AK7set9qRpJ2gJ7rBLBe9xQbEHnPCWjUHa5vrdVt2Q0M3nnpZStPwHp3zPsZFpBOuR194AtjqEDss2zxa6syXljY5Qs= X-Received: by 2002:a50:f602:0:b0:4fb:f19:881 with SMTP id c2-20020a50f602000000b004fb0f190881mr3355337edn.3.1679145790087; Sat, 18 Mar 2023 06:23:10 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <20230227053246.ec9d48a5cd3cbd67fd296fc6@schemamania.org> In-Reply-To: <20230227053246.ec9d48a5cd3cbd67fd296fc6@schemamania.org> From: David Edelsohn Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2023 09:22:58 -0400 Message-ID: Subject: Re: #include cobol To: "James K. Lowden" Cc: gcc@gcc.gnu.org Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000582ed605f72c9898" X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,DKIM_VALID_EF,FREEMAIL_FROM,HTML_MESSAGE,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS,TXREP autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.6 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.6 (2021-04-09) on server2.sourceware.org List-Id: --000000000000582ed605f72c9898 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Feb 27, 2023 at 10:13=E2=80=AFAM James K. Lowden wrote: > To the GCC community and GCC Steering Committee: Greetings! > > We at COBOLworx would like GCC to consider our gcobol front-end for > inclusion in the GCC project. We would like to contribute it to the > GNU Toolchain and have it merged into GCC. > > We believe our work is further along than any previous GCC Cobol > effort. As you may know, we have been working on the project for over > a year. Much of the last 9 months have been devoted to testing for > correctness. The compiler now passes the core module of the NIST > CCVS-85 test suite. Although not ready for production use by any > means, we expect to pass all relevant aspects of CCVS-85 later this > year. > > Old as it is, Cobol is far from dead. Estimates run into billions of > lines written, with millions more added each year, even today. But -- > because there has never been a free, fully functional, > source-to-machine compiler for it -- Cobol remains largely locked > behind expensive, proprietary walls. GCC can change that. > > Cobol also offers a window into what was and might yet be. In Seibel's > "Coders at Work", Fran Allen put it this way: > > "There was a debate between Steve Johnson, of Bell Labs, who > were supporting C, and one of our people, Bill Harrison.... The nubbin > of the debate was Steve's defense of not having to build optimizers > anymore because the programmer would take care of it." > > and > > "By 1960, we had a long list of amazing languages: Lisp, APL, > Fortran, COBOL, Algol 60. These are higher-level than C. We have > seriously regressed since C developed." > > Modern hardware, and GCC's 100 optimization passes, are evidence Fran > Allen was right. Cobol, with its 2 dozen high-level verbs and > integrated I/O, provides a theoretical opportunity to surpass even C's > performance in its problem domain, because the compiler has more > information and more leeway. > > As a technical matter, to be sure we are far from achieving that goal. > It is, as I said, an opportunity. As we hone our skills, we look > forward to learning together with others to make it a reality. > > Signed, > > Marty Heyman, James K. Lowden, Robert Dubner > The GCC Steering Committee has approved GCobol as a new front-end for the GNU Compiler Collection. Congratulations! This is the administrative approval. The initial patches must be technically approved by a GCC Global Reviewer. Please coordinate this with the GCC Global Reviewers and Release Managers for the next or future Stage 1 development cycle. GCC welcomes support for new languages. COBOL is an important but niche language in 2023. GCobol will not be a primary language that is considered critical for a GCC Release, and if GCobol becomes a maintenance burden, the GCC SC and community may revisit support for COBOL. We look forward to COBOL support in a future release of GCC. Thanks, David --000000000000582ed605f72c9898--