h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

COBOL does not use line numbers. Many old editors that were used for COBOL did.

Hi Skogtun,

you're somewhat right: the area reserved for line numbers (columns 1 to 6) isn't in real use anymore, and you could just as well leave it blank or put in a date or so, but you still couldn't use it for code. I don't know whether COBOL compilers ever utilized the numbers (if so, then certainly not in the way BASIC does), but in the good old times of punch cards, the line numbers were necessary for sorting a pile of punch cards just in case you dropped them on the floor, and maybe some mainframe editors used them as a sorting device.

Thanks for reading this entry and for your comment.

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