Microsoft KB Archive/34079

Definition of an “Obsolete Element” for ANSI ’85 COBOL

PSS ID Number: Q34079 Article last modified on 04-21-1993

3.00 | 3.00 MS-DOS | OS/2

Summary: Features in ANSI ’85 COBOL identified as “obsolete” have the following characteristics: 1. Implementors must include them in ANSI COBOL ’85 (i.e., they are not necessarily optional). 2. These features will definitely be deleted in the subsequent COBOL revisions (unless ANSI X3J4 changes this rule). 3. Compilers must provide an optional “warning flag” for programmers to highlight the occurrence of any obsolete language element in a program. 4. Obsolete language elements will not be modified, enhanced, or maintained by the ANSI COBOL committee. 5. The interaction between obsolete elements and other language elements is undefined. 6. Any feature to be deleted from COBOL in the future must first be placed in the “Obsolete” category so the COBOL community has some time to deal with potential conversion problems.

Additional reference words: 3.00 Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1993.