nolan@tssi.UUCP (Michael Nolan) (10/16/90)
In reading through the changed pages for the NCR ITX COBOL manual in an update
I just received, I find the following statement:
During the compilation process, internal structures are allocated space from
the user heap. The size of any structure must not exceed approximately
64000 bytes of data.
One such structure, the symbol table, has an entry in it for every data name
defined in the Environment and Data Divisions. Therefore, as the number of
data names increases, the size of the symbol table also increases.
We have determined that approximately 7000 data names may be specified in
a COBOL program. Any number in excess of this causes the compiler to
abort with an OUT OF MEMORY message. The only recourse is to reduce the
number of data items in the program.
A very understandable problem, but it raises several questions:
1. How many COBOL programs are likely to exceed the 7000 data names limit?
(I don't think I've ever written one that large, have others?)
2. Is this type of limit common among other COBOL compilers?
3. Does this limit affect the ANSI certification of the COBOL compiler?
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