hmmm, just don't think too much. The solution is right in your head. Simple but i was thinking too much

I'm late to respond to this, but after taking a look at the mere fact that you went and made a COBOL translation and that it (presumably) works, I felt a deep fear like writing up a post-mortem for a cancelled year-long project.

I personally don't have the expertise required to gauge if the translation is good enough, so I'll defer to people more intelligent than me to make that call.

I bow to your knowledge of the Old Ways.