The SOUNDEX Function dysfunction

[mgrossmann]

The SOUNDEX function produces certain codes that represent the syllabic sounds of a word. Thereby, allowing the processing of words by how they sound (enunciated) vs how they are spelled. The BRexx/370 version of SOUNDEX being ported from the original BRexx produces a code that differs from that established by the BRexx documentation. For example, the BRexx documentation indicates that ‘monday’ and ‘mandei’ have equivalent sounds (in English). After evaluation by the SOUNDEX() Built-in- Function (BiF), they both should produce the same code, M530:
SOUNDEX(‘monday’) :==> SOUNDEX(‘mandei’) :==> ‘M530’
However, in BRexx/370, the SOUNDEX() BiF produces 2 different codes from each other as well as different from that produced from the original BRexx, per the documentation. When the SOUNDEX() BiF is employed to evaluate the same 2 strings what is produced can only fully be displayed in hex.

I surmise that the differences may be due to a complication of the character encoding (i.e., ASCII vs. EBCDIC) somewhere within the Soundex algorithm. Anyway, take a look at the screen-shots following for a glimpse of the SOUNDEX() function in action.

[mgrossmann]

This is indeed a problem with ASCII and EBCDIC