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Q: What are the four divisions of a COBOL program?
Answer:
- IDENTIFICATION DIVISION - Program identification (PROGRAM-ID)
- ENVIRONMENT DIVISION - Hardware/software environment, file assignments
- DATA DIVISION - Data definitions (FILE, WORKING-STORAGE, LINKAGE SECTION)
- PROCEDURE DIVISION - Executable code and business logic
Only IDENTIFICATION and PROCEDURE DIVISION are mandatory.
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Q: What is LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION?
Answer:
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION is reinitialized each invocation. Unlike WORKING-STORAGE which retains values. Each thread gets own copy. Useful for recursive programs and threaded environments. COBOL-85+ feature. Not all compilers support equally.
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Q: What is the purpose of COPY statement?
Answer:
COPY includes copybook members at compile time, promoting code reuse and standardization. Syntax: COPY copybook-name. REPLACING clause allows field substitution. Copybooks typically contain record layouts, working-storage definitions, and common routines.
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Q: Explain host variable rules
Answer:
Host variables prefixed with : in SQL. Declare in WORKING-STORAGE. Must be compatible types. Use indicator for NULL. Cannot use in dynamic object names. VARCHAR needs two-part structure in COBOL.
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Q: What is WORKING-STORAGE SECTION?
Answer:
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION declares program variables. Initialized at program load. Retains values between CALL invocations unless INITIAL program. Define all work areas, flags, counters, tables here. 01-49 levels for data, 77 for independent items.
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Q: What is SQLCA structure?
Answer:
SQLCA (SQL Communication Area) contains execution results. SQLCODE for return code. SQLERRM for message. SQLERRD(3) for rows affected. SQLWARN for warnings. INCLUDE SQLCA in WORKING-STORAGE. Check after each SQL statement.