stercor

strtok uses the name of the string on its first invocation, NULL thereafter for the same string. strtok can be confusing at first; it's a good instruction when you know how it works.

Computing date differences is cumbersome, for example, leap years. I suggest using something where somebody already wrote the function. Postgres: 1. Install PostgreSQL [Click Here](http://www.PostgreSQL.org); 2. Use PostgreSQL's age() function. http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.2/static/functions-datetime.html This method _does_ have advantages: A. It works; B. It takes leap years into account; C. You get an …

I'm assuming that you're on an IBM platform. Other platforms may have similar capabilities. If you want sequential records, Relative Record Number (RRN) is a convenient way to go. I can also retrieve records randomly. VSAM is also a good choice, perhaps even better for your application. RRN is super-fast, …

COBOL random number generator: When choosing a number of random numbers in a list, have a prime number of items, such as 19 or 23 in your list. This answer is based on bservation; I know of no good reason why this should be so.