Aside: by 1982 there was a COBOL compiler for the PC from Microsoft: https://archive.org/details/ibmpccobol

I bet it was cheaper than the COBOL "lint" you mention :-)


On Sat, Sep 7, 2024 at 12:50 AM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
So I was flipping through a System V software catalog from Fall 1984 and among
the many AT&T Bell Laboratories items is the "COBOL Syntax Checker".

From the text:

---QUOTE---

The COBOL Syntax Checker allows programmers to edit and check the syntax of COBOL
programs before they are transmitted to mainframes for compilation and execution.
The software increases the chances of a 'clean' compilation and execution and
reduces the chance of a program being rejected due to syntax and simple semantic
errors.  As a result, expensive mainframe CPU time is reduced.

The COBOL Syntax Checker processes a COBOL source program and produces three
listings:

1. a diagnostic listing,

2. a cross-reference listing,

3. a source listing.

---END QUOTE---

There are two distributions listed, a C binary distribution for SVR2 for the
3B20 for $2000 and a C source distribution for SVR2 for the VAX 11/780 for $7500,
both listed as released 2Q84.

Some quick Googling only offers up additional catalog and magazine mentions.
To me this sounds like a linter with some extra bits.  Does anyone have any
recollections of this software or know if there's much likelihood of the software
itself or any documentation surviving?

Thanks for any insights!

- Matt G.