On 7/23/2012 7:04, Invisible wrote:
> If he really /means/ that it stored two /characters/, that would be 16 bits,
> not 8. (But I rather doubt that's what it does.)

Sometimes, sometimes not. There's a data type for "packed BCD", and a data 
type for "display BCD."  Which you stored depends on what you intended to do 
with it. Remember that COBOL is also intended as a report generator, to a 
large extent.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Oh no! We're out of code juice!"
   "Don't panic. There's beans and filters
    in the cabinet."

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On 7/22/2012 9:44 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 7/22/2012 21:33, Patrick Elliott wrote:
>> dates. And, no, I don't mean an integer, I mean a "human readable" two
>> digit
>> number, which could only contain 0-9, in two characters.
>
> Most likely packed BCD, with two digits in one byte, actually.
>
I have to say.. I am glad I forgot what those where. lol

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On 7/23/2012 11:43 AM, Darren New wrote:
> On 7/23/2012 7:04, Invisible wrote:
>> If he really /means/ that it stored two /characters/, that would be 16
>> bits,
>> not 8. (But I rather doubt that's what it does.)
>
> Sometimes, sometimes not. There's a data type for "packed BCD", and a
> data type for "display BCD."  Which you stored depends on what you
> intended to do with it. Remember that COBOL is also intended as a report
> generator, to a large extent.
>
I think we probably used a lot more of the "display" sort, just so we 
could see, in the crash dump, what the hell happened. lol

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On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:53:05 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 23/07/2012 2:49 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> What it's called is "Binary Coded Decimal" IIRC
> 
> I remember that. I used to boot H316s by entering BCD into the switch
> register, step by step. Until it would load the loader tape.
> Ah! Memories.

I seem to have lost mine.  Dad always said it was the second thing to 
go....AFAICR. ;)

Jim

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On 24/07/2012 5:47 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> I seem to have lost mine.  Dad always said it was the second thing to
> go....AFAICR.;)

And the little blue pills brings back memories of the first. ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:52:21 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 24/07/2012 5:47 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I seem to have lost mine.  Dad always said it was the second thing to
>> go....AFAICR.;)
> 
> And the little blue pills brings back memories of the first. ;-)

Oh, is *that* what the first is? ;)

Jim

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On 24/07/2012 9:37 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:52:21 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 24/07/2012 5:47 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> I seem to have lost mine.  Dad always said it was the second thing to
>>> go....AFAICR.;)
>>
>> And the little blue pills brings back memories of the first. ;-)
>
> Oh, is *that* what the first is? ;)
>

I thought that it was you who told me. :-P


-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:02:44 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 24/07/2012 9:37 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:52:21 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>>
>>> On 24/07/2012 5:47 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>>> I seem to have lost mine.  Dad always said it was the second thing to
>>>> go....AFAICR.;)
>>>
>>> And the little blue pills brings back memories of the first. ;-)
>>
>> Oh, is *that* what the first is? ;)
>>
>>
> I thought that it was you who told me. :-P

Nah, wouldn't have been me - the joke goes that dad couldn't remember the 
first thing that goes....

Jim

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On 24/07/2012 11:31 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Nah, wouldn't have been me - the joke goes that dad couldn't remember the
> first thing that goes....

I was extrapolating.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:59:40 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 24/07/2012 11:31 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Nah, wouldn't have been me - the joke goes that dad couldn't remember
>> the first thing that goes....
> 
> I was extrapolating.

Oh, is /that/ what you call it? ;)

Jim

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