Easytrieve - Similarity To COBOL

Similarity To COBOL

The syntax of an Easytrieve program is very similar to COBOL. They share many of the same data types and reserved words, such as "MOVE", "ADD", "SUBTRACT", "MULTIPLY", "DIVIDE", "CALL", "CASE", and "IF". Also, "procedures" can be created in Easytrieve to allow for modularized functionality.

A few differences between the two are variable definition, file reading, and report generation. Like COBOL, Easytrieve has many of the same variable types (alphanumeric, numeric, packed, binary, etc.) and can "group" variables together. The biggest difference is that Easytrieve does not use level numbers. Also, to specify sub-levels under an "01 level" variable, Easytrieve uses integer offsets to indicate the starting position within the group. Of course, the programmer also specifies the size of the variable, but uses a slightly different syntax: size is determined by an integer, instead of "X" or "9" like COBOL.

Reading input files is made much easier in Easytrieve because the process is automated. The programmer merely references the variables to be used. When the logic of the "JOB section" for that line of the input file is complete, Easytrieve automatically reads the next line and the logic is repeated. In this way, Easytrieve operates similarly to ColdFusion and its "" tag, which loops through each line of query results.

Generating a report is simple in Easytrieve. The programmer can specify each and every detail of a report, including its titles, fields, headings, spacing, sort order, control breaks, and automated field tallies. Easytrieve even contains special "report procedures" that can be used to manipulate report output easily and automatically per line, break, end of page, end of report, etc.