ISO/IEC JTC = 1/SC22

Programming languages, their environments = and system software interfaces

Secretariat: U.S.A. = (ANSI)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 = N3911

TITLE:

German Comments on N 3873, Registration and = Approval Letter Ballot for ISO/IEC PDTR 24717, Information = technology-Programming languages, their environment and system software interfaces-COBOL = collection classes

DATE ASSIGNED:

2005-06-09

SOURCE:

SC 22 Secretariat =

BACKWARD = POINTER:

DOCUMENT TYPE:

National Body = Comments

PROJECT NUMBER:

STATUS:

These additional comments received from the = UK are sent to SC 22/WG 4 for consideration when resolving the comments = contained in SC 22 N 3909.

ACTION = IDENTIFIER:

ACT

DUE DATE:

DISTRIBUTION:

TEXT

CROSS = REFERENCE:

SC 22 N 3873, = N3909

DISTRIBUTION = FORM:

Def

Address reply = to:

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC22 = Secretariat

Sally = Seitz

ANSI

25 West 43rd = Street

New = York, NY 10036

Telephone: (212) = 642-4918

Fax: &n= bsp; (212) 840-2298

Email: sseitz@ansi.org =

___________end of coversheet, beginning of = document_______________

German Comments on COBOL Collection = Classes

1. = page 11, =C2=A02.1.15 ReturnObject method

it is unclear, which exceptionCode value will be returned:
is it always EO-NOT-IN-COLLECTION or is it EO-BEGINNING-OF-COLLECTION = for inBinary < 1 and EO-END-OF-COLLECTION for inBinary > number of = object references in the collection ?

2. = page 13, =C2=A03.1.1 AddAfter and 3.1.2 AddBefore method
page 18,=C2=A0 5.4.1 AddObject method

it is unclear which exceptionCode value will be returned, if more than = one of the possible error condition exists (for instance 3.1.1: if a NULL = object reference is to be added to a collection, that also has no current = reference, are these conditions to be checked in the sequence they are mentioned, resulting in EO=E2=80=91NO=E2=80=91CURRENT-OBJECT-REFERENCE?)

3. = page 14,=C2=A0 4 Keyed Collection Class

it seems that the definition of this class presumes all keys having = the same length. But this is nowhere required: at least a note is necessary, = that cautions the users about using keys of different lengths, because this = will give unexpected results!
example:
=C2=A0 AddObject with key a=C2=A0=C2=A0 defined as PIC NN value N'AA' = (assume this object has ordinal number 1)
=C2=A0 ReturnKeyFromOrdinal=C2=A0 with inBinary=3D1 and returning key b = defined as PIC N
=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0 =C3=A0 no exception, and value of b will be N'A';
if we got the key without any error, everybody would expect to retrieve = the corresponding object also without problems, BUT:
=C2=A0 ReturnKeyedObject with this dataitem b as inkey results in = EO-INVALID-KEY!!!
simply because the key has been truncated!
Therefore at least an additional ExceptionCode value like = 'EO-TRUNCATED-KEY' for the both ReturnKeyFrom=E2=80=A6 methods should be defined!
(the trickyness of these problems also shows up in the example in the = Concepts Section =E2=80=93 see below!)

4. = page 21, =C2=A06.5 ReturnOrdinal method

the description refers to the 'associated collection', whereas the = other method descriptions refer to 'sequence from the iterator': it is unclear, if = the ordinal position here really refers to sequence of objects within the underlying collection or should it rather refer to the sequence of = objects as defined by the iterator ?

5. = page 29,=C2=A0 C.1.1 Collections, method SetName

'MOVE display-name to account-name' is invalid (see table 17 in COBOL Standard!)
transfering data of class national to data of class alphanumeric is = only possible with FUNCTION DISPLAY-OF!!

6. = page 31-32,=C2=A0 C.1.3 Keyed Collection

the comment 'add the new account to the collection prior to the first account' = (before the last INVOKE on page 31) is baffling: the account added first had a key = N'00001bbbb' (assume 'b' represents a space character) and the second AddKeyed = invocation has a key N'00002bbbb'; this can not come prior to N'00001bbbb' = unless a very unusual collating sequence is in effect=C2=A0 (and if it is, if = would be fair to say so!!)

the comment 'We can now retrieve an account using the account number we specify' (page32 top) is definitely misleading: specifying an actual = parameter N"2" against a formal parameter PIC N ANY LENGTH results in = length 1 character for the key, therefore NO account will be retrieved, since = all accounts added in the example before had a key length of 9 characters! = =C2=A0(and even if the actual parameter had a length of 9 characters, such as = N"2bbbbbbbb", it also would not find the intended object which had a key = N'00002bbbb'!)=C2=A0

Sally = Seitz

Program = Manager

ANSI

25 = West 43rd Street

New = York, NY 10036<= /p>

Phone: (212) 642-4918

Fax: (212) 840-2298