COBOL for the Approved Workman

Foundation

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it.

But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER ONE

Return to contents

Introduction to

COBOL

Isaiah 28:10

"For He says,

'Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.' "

1.1 COBOL Overview

COBOL is a sophisticated, file-oriented language capable of creating and retrieving data on a massive scale with great flexibility and ease, both in a batch and interactive mode. COBOL stands for Common Business-Oriented Language and remains the mainstay of many businesses today.

COBOL is a symbolic language that brings order to business enterprises. Where there is disorder, we can use COBOL to create systems of programs to organize and rearrange data in meaningful ways. In a much more awesome manner, God created order from disorder and it was good:

Genesis 1:3-4

Then God said, Let there be light; and

there was light. And God saw that the

light was good; and God separated the

light from the darkness.

Colossians 1:16

For by Him all things were created, both

in the heavens and on earth, visible and

invisible, whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities -- all things

have been created by Him and for Him.

Throughout Scripture, we see how God has continued to order the world, particularly Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel had a particular order in marching through the desert and in the setting up of the tabernacle, and there was order in constructing and rebuilding the Temple, to cite some Old Testament examples. With respect to the New Testament, the body of Christ is well ordered. It consists of many members, each with a particular function or purpose. We are admonished to do everything decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40) with regard to congregational worship.

Bringing order out of chaos is not only prized within the business enterprise, but order is also highly valued within a COBOL program itself. If bringing order out of chaos was good to God, then writing a well-ordered COBOL program is a good work. To accomplish orderliness, we will desire to have each component of our COBOL programs have a particular function or purpose, just as each member of the body of Christ has a particular function. We will accomplish this by making use of structured programming concepts that are based on using modules, process objects, or functions to carry out specific tasks.

The advantage to a business of having highly structured or well-ordered programs and systems of programs, built upon functional objects, lies in the reduced cost to develop the software initially and to maintain these programs and systems as changes need to be made over time. Our desire is to honor and to be like our God, who is a God of order, especially since we are His workmanship created in Him to perform good works (Eph. 2:10). For these reasons, the concept of functions is stressed throughout this text.

1.2 The Structure of COBOL

The structure of COBOL is somewhat precise. There are as many as four divisions that segregate programs into two minor regions and two major regions. The two minor regions identify the program and its operating environment, while the two major regions define the data elements and the processes or functions. We call these divisions

Identification Division.

Environment Division.

Data Division.

Procedure Division.

The following is a sample COBOL program showing two of these divisions:

identification division.

program-id. sample1.

* this is a comment line

procedure division.

display Hello

stop run.

The Program-ID entry should always correspond to the external file name, not including the file extension, which is used to identify the program. In Windows this limits the file name to 8 characters. Use the words stop run. to terminate a program. The period after the words stop run is recommended.

Columns have significance in the language in the ANSI 85 standard and earlier. Column 7 is reserved for asterisks to identify comment lines. You cannot go beyond column 72, except that columns 73-80 may be used for such things as a date or your initials to help provide an audit trail when changes are made.

When this program is executed, the word Hello is displayed on the screen. The lines display Hello and stop run. are referred to as statements. In addition to statements, COBOL uses functions and data elements.

1.3 Functions in COBOL

The Procedure Division has the capability of combining statements into functions or processes. These functions can be in line or they can be grouped at the end of the program. When grouped at the end of the program, it’s good programming practice to include function headers and function exit points to facilitate testing and to make the programs easier to read and understand. For example, the program sample1 could be rewritten two ways as follows:

identification division.

program-id. sample1A.

* sample showing

* in line function

procedure division.

perform

display Hello

end-perform

stop run.

OR

identification division.

program-id. sample1B.

* sample showing function

* at the end of the program

procedure division.

top-level.

perform display-routine thru dr-exit

stop run.

display-routine.

display Hello.

dr-exit. exit.

A function generally carries out some specific task and is limited in size, say up to a page in length. The size of the function will often help determine whether you choose to have it at the end of a program, or as an in line function. A period is generally required at the end of the last statement in a function.

Regarding column positions, process headers and exit points should begin in column 8, while process statements (instructions or commands) historically have begun in column 12 with indentation used beyond that for nested instructions to enhance readability. You cannot go beyond column 72, except that columns 73-80 may be used for such things as a date or initials to help provide an audit trail when changes are made.

1.3.1 Functions as Separate Files

It’s also possible and quite useful to store functions in separate files and have them automatically copied into your programs. This offers the advantage of reusing software already developed, thereby reducing development time and cost. This technique is used extensively throughout this text. Copying is accomplished using the COPY feature, as illustrated in the following example:

identification division.

program-id. sample1C.

* sample showing function at end of

* program copied from separate file

procedure division.

top-level.

perform display-routine thru dr-exit

stop run.

copy display1.pro.

For this example, a separate file must exist called display1.pro, which in this instance contains the following lines:

display-routine.

display Hello

display Hello

display Hello

display Hello again.

dr-exit. exit.

Notice the period required at the end of the function's last statement before the exit point. Also notice the periods used to terminate the header itself, the exit point name and the word exit.

The starting column for function headers and exit points is column 8, function statements (instructions or commands) begin in column 12. Nesting of instructions is seen in later chapters where further indentation is used beyond column 12 to enhance readability and maintainability. If statements go beyond column 72, the program will never reach the stage where it can be run or executed. In these cases, simply move an entire word or words to the next line to resolve the problem. For instance,

display

This is the day that the Lord has made

display

-- let us rejoice!

Another way to use functions is to have them as separately compiled programs. Discussion of this topic is delayed until the next chapter.

1.4 Data Elements in COBOL

The following is a sample COBOL program showing three of the COBOL divisions plus one Data Division Section:

identification division.

program-id. sample2.

data division.

working-storage section.

1 my-object pic x(5) value Hello.

procedure division.

display my-object

stop run.

The Data Division is used to declare data objects or define data elements. In this Division there are typically up to five sections (discussed in greater detail in later chapters):

Section Name Used to declare

File Section file data elements or objects

Working-Storage general purpose variable and constant objects

Report Section special report-writing object components

Screen Section screen object lines and columns

Linkage Section variables or objects to be transferred to external functions

If all are used in a single program, it’s advisable to include them in this order. Usually the Report Section and Screen Section would not reside in the same program.

The COPY feature is used to copy data descriptions as well as functions in order to reduce development effort and make programs easier to read and maintain. For instance,

identification division.

program-id. sample2B.

data division.

COPY c:\projects\objects.ws.

procedure division.

display my-object

stop run.

Here, a separate file must exist on drive C:\ in sub directory projects called objects.ws, which in this instance could contain this code:

1 my-object pic x(5) value Hello.

1 my-object-again pic x(5) value

Hello.

Regarding columns and syntax, data elements generally are preceded starting with number 1 beginning in column 8. If a data element consists of several components, these would use numbers 2 through 49. Column 7 may be used for a hyphen to identify a continuation line in the Data Division, if needed, since code cannot extend beyond column 72. To avoid the use of the hyphen altogether, place your literal on a single line below the object name as illustrated above.

If the literal is still too long, break it up into two or more literals, each of which will fit within the constraints as in this example

1 my-big-object pic x(100) value

This is an example of a literal that does not fit This is an example of a literal that does not fit.

1 split-object.

3 my-object-part-1 pic x(50) value

This is an example of a literal that fits.

3 my-object-part-2 pic x(50) value

This is an example of a literal that fits.

The object split-object is referred to as a group and is assigned the number 1, while the number 3 was chosen for the group's two components. Periods are needed to terminate data declaration lines in the Data Division.

Notice that there is no period after the word value, since the literal on the line following actually completes the data declaration. Therefore the line with the literal requires the period.

Consider the following:

1 in-date.

5 id-yy pic 99.

5 id-mm pic 99.

5 id-dd pic 99.

In the preceding code, in-date is a data element of length 6 consisting of three components, each of length 2. The object in-date is the group and assigned the number 1, while number 5 is chosen for the group's components. Names are assigned by the programmer. Pic stands for picture and establishes the length and type of an object. Nines (9's) are used to specify a numeric data type, while x's would be used to specify a character data type. Periods are needed at the end of each line.

Lower case and mixed case is acceptable for names. Data elements and commands are not case sensitive in COBOL. For instance, WAGE and Wage represent the same data element. Names may use up to 30 characters, which helps to make COBOL programs relatively self-documenting. Use letters, numbers and the hyphen in your names.

1.4.1 Character Data Type

Define character objects or data elements in a variety of ways. First we consider variable data elements -- those whose values may be altered during processing.

Consider the following, which must appear in the Data Division:

1 my-object pic x(6).

OR

1 my-object pic x(6) value Hello.

OR

1 my-object pic xxxxxx value Hello.

In all the above, a character object of length 6 is being declared. Use an x to indicate the character data type. To specify a length of up to 255 characters or bytes, you may use that number of x's or include a number in parentheses immediately after a single x. Optionally, you may specify an initial value by using the word value followed by a literal contained in quotation marks. If the size of a character object is larger than the value of the literal assigned to it, the literal is aligned or justified on the left with spaces added onto the right to fill the field.

Literals are case sensitive. For instance Hello is different from HELLO.

You can also specify constant character data elements -- those which you do not wish to alter or change. There is no protection against a constant being altered, however, as there is in some other languages. A typical example of a character constant is a report title or heading. For instance,

1 report-title-1.

7 pic x(43) value

This is an example of a title 43 bytes long.

7 pic x(37) value spaces.

Notice the absence of a name between the number 7 and the word pic. When you do not plan on changing the value of an object, you need not assign a name to it. The group name report-title-1 is used to refer to the entire group, and it could be used to alter the group's state or value