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    FD  FILENAME
        DATA RECORDS ARE RD01, RD02, RD03.
    01  RD01 PIC X(n).
    01  RD02 PIC X(n).
    01  RD03 PIC X(n).

• When an existing file should be appended by adding new records at its end.
  EXTEND mode opens the file for output, but the file is positioned following the last record on the existing file.

• The statement closes an opened file and it prevents the file from further being opened by the same program.

• I-O mode

• Before the REWRITE is performed, the record must be read from the file.
  Hence REWRITE includes an input operation and an output operation.
  Therefore, the file must be opened in I-O mode.

• FILE STATUS 10 is the end of file condition. Hence AT END clause can be used.

• Use START
  START filename KEY IS EQ/GT/LT.. dataname
            INVALID KEY ...

• Access mode must be SEQUENTIAL or DYNAMIC.

• The linkage section is used to pass data from one program to another program or to pass data from a PROC to a program.
  It is part of a called program that 'links' or maps to data items in the calling program's working storage.
  It is the part of the called program where these share items are defined.

• It's not possible to pass an index via linkage.
  The index is not part of the calling programs working storage. Indexing uses binary displacement.
  Subscripts use the value of the occurrence.

• A subscript is a working storage data definition item, typically a PIC (999) where a value must be moved to the subscript and then increment or decrement it by ADD TO and SUBTRACT FROM statements.
  An index is a register item that exists outside the program's working storage.
  You SET an index to a value and SET it UP BY value and DOWN BY value.
  Subscript refers to the array occurrence while index is the displacement (in no of bytes) from the beginning of the array.
  An index can only be modified using PERFORM, SEARCH & SET.
  Need to have index for a table in order to use SEARCH, SEARCH ALL Cobol statements.

• Comp is a binary usage, while comp-3 indicates packed decimal.
  The other common usages are binary and display.
  Display is the default.
  Comp is defined as the fastest/preferred numeric data type for the machine it runs on.
  IBM Mainframes are typically binary and AS400's are packed.

• COMP-1 - Single precision floating point. Uses 4 bytes.
  COMP-2 - Double precision floating point. Uses 8 bytes.

• No picture clause to be given.
  Example 01 WS-VAR USAGE COMP-1.

• Will take 4 bytes.
  Sign is stored as hex value in the last nibble.
  General formula is INT((n/2) + 1)), where n=7 in this example.

• Will occupy 8 bytes (one extra byte for sign).

• 99999999

• Causes the item to be aligned on natural boundaries.
  Can be SYNCHRONIZED LEFT or RIGHT.
  For binary data items, the address resolution is faster if they are located at word boundaries in the memory.
  For example, on main frame the memory word size is 4 bytes.
  This means that each word will start from an address divisible by 4.
  If my first variable is X(3) and next one is S9(4) comp, then if you do not specify the SYNC clause, S9(4) COMP will start from byte 3 ( assuming that it starts from 0 ).
  If you specify SYNC, then the binary data item will start from address 4.
  You might see some wastage of memory, but the access to this computational field is faster.

• 16777215

• PIC 9.99 is a FOUR-POSITION field that actually contains a decimal point where as PIC 9V99 is THREE-POSITION numeric field with implied or assumed decimal position.

• PIC 9.99 is a four position field that actually contains a decimal point where as 9V99 is a three position numeric field with an implied or assumed decimal point.

• PICTURE 9V99 is a three position Numeric field with an implied or assumed decimal point after the first position; the v means an implied decimal point.

• The editing characters are to be used with data items with usage clause as display, which is the default.
  
• When you try displaying a data item with usage as computational it does not give the desired display format because the data item is stored as packed decimal.
  
• So if u want this particular data item to be edited u have to move it into a data item whose usage is display and then have that particular data item edited in the format desired.
  
  

S0C1 - may be due to
• Missing or misspelled DD name
• Read/Write to unopened dataset
• Read to dataset opened output
• Write to dataset opened input
• Called subprogram not found.

S0C4 may be due to
• Missing Select statement (during compile)
• Bad Subscript/index
• Protection Exception
• Missing parameters on called subprogram
• Read/Write to unopened file
• Move data from/to unopened file.

S0C5 may be due to
• Bad Subscript/index
• Close an unopen dataset
• Bad exit from a perform
• Access to I/O area(FD) before read.

S0C7 may be due to
• Numeric operation on non-numeric data
• Un-initialize working-storage
• Coding past the maximum allowed sub script.

• Global variables are accessible only to the batch program whereas external variables can be referenced from any batch program residing in the same system library.

• A reentrant program, while being executed resides in the common virtual area so that one copy of it may be shared among all callers.
  Use RENT compiler option.

• 01 level can have sublevels from 02 to 49.
  77 cannot have sublevel.

• The working storage and linkage section limit has been increased. They are 128 megabytes as supposed to 1 megabytes in OS/VS COBOL.
  Introduction of ADDRESS special register.
  31-bit addressing.
  In using COBOL on PC we have only flat files and the programs can access only limited storage, whereas in VS COBOL II on M/F the programs can access up to 16MB or 2GB depending on the addressing and can use VSAM files to make I/O operations faster.

• DB2 pre-compiler (if embedded SQL is used), CICS translator (if CICS program), Cobol compiler, Link editor.
  If DB2 program, create plan by binding the DBRMs.

• Identification Division.
  Program-ID. Program-name.
  A) Is compute w=u a valid statement?
       Yes, it is. It is equivalent to move u to w.
  B) In the above example, when will you prefer compute statement over the move statement?
       When significant left-order digits would be lost in execution, the COMPUTE statement can detect the condition and allow you to handle it.
       The MOVE statement carries out the assignment with destructive truncation.
       Therefore, if the size error is needs to be detected, COMPUTE will be preferred over MOVE.
       The ON SIZE ERROR phrase of COMPUTE statement, compiler generates code to detect size-overflow.

• If the condition occurs, the code in the ON SIZE ERROR phrase is performed, and the content of the destination field remains unchanged.
  If the ON SIZE ERROR phrase is not specified, the assignment is carried out with truncation.
  There is no ON SIZE ERROR support for the MOVE statement.

• Using SELECT clause, the files can be associated with external data sets.
  The SELECT clause is defined in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph of Input-Output Section that is coded Environment Division.
  The File structure is defined by FD entry under File-Section of Data Division for the OS.

• Associate the file with the external data set using SELECT clause of INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
  INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION appears inside the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
  Define your file structure in the FILE SECTION of DATA DIVISION.

• Declaratives provide special section that are executed when an exceptional condition occurs.
  They must be grouped together and coded at the beginning of procedure division and the entire procedure division must be divided into sections.
  The Declaratives start with a USE statement.
  The entire group of declaratives is preceded by DECLARIVES and followed by END DECLARITIVES in area A.
  The three types of declaratives are Exception (when error occurs during file handling), Debugging (to debug lines with 'D' coded in w-s section) and Label (for EOF or beginning...) declaratives.

• The working-storage section is allocated at the start of the run-unit and any data items with VALUE clauses are initialized to the appropriate value at the time.
  When the subprogram is called the second time, a working-storage items persist in their last used state.
  However, if the program is specified with INITIAL on the PROGRAM-ID, working-storage section is reinitialized each time the program is entered.
  PROGRAM-ID. is INITIAL PROGRAM. Other verbs used with PROGRAM-ID are RECURSIVE and COMMON.

• COMMON attribute is used with nested COBOL programs.
  If it is not specified, other nested programs will not be able to access the program.
  PROGRAM-ID. Pgmname is COMMON PROGRAM.

• Environment division and Configuration Section.

• If TEST BEFORE is specified, the condition is tested at the beginning of each repeated execution of the specified PERFORM range.
  If TEST AFTER is specified, the condition is tested at the end of the each repeated execution of the PERFORM range.
  With TEST AFTER, the range is executed at least once.

• PERFORM ... ... END-PERFORM.

• Yes. Evaluation of the WHEN clauses proceeds from top to bottom and their sequence can determine results.

• INITIALIZE sets spaces to alphabetic and alphanumeric fields.
  Initialize sets Zeroes to numeric fields. FILLER, OCCURS DEPENDING ON items are left untouched.
  The REPLACING option can be used to override these defaults.

• In COBOL II the 88 levels can be set rather than moving their associated values to the related data item.
  (Web note: This change is not one of COBOL II's better specifications.)

• LENGTH acts like a special register to tell the length of a group or an elementary item.

• A delimiter in STRING causes a sending field to be ended and another to be started.

• A delimiter when encountered in the sending field causes the current receiving field to be switched to the next one indicated.

• MOVE 0 TO char-count
  INSPECT null-terminated-string TALLYING char-count FOR CHARACTERS BEFORE X"00"

• UNSTRING null-terminated-string DELIMITED BY X"00" INTO target-area
  COUNT IN char-count.
  There are other methods, such as:
  1) using PERFORM
  2) using SEARCH
  3) using INSPECT and MOVE etc...

• 77 COUNTR PIC 9 VALUE ZEROES.
  01 DATA-2 PIC X(11). . .
  INSPECT DATA-2 TALLYING COUNTR FOR LEADING "0" REPLACING FIRST "A" BY "2" AFTER INITIAL "C"
  If DATA-2 is 0000ALABAMA,
  what will DATA-2 and COUNTER be after the execution of INSPECT verb?
  Answer:
  Counter = 4.
  Data-2 will not change as the Initial 'C' is not found.

• 01 DATA-4 PIC X(11).
  :::
  INSPECT DATA-4 CONVERTING "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" TO "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" AFTER INITIAL "/" BEFORE INITIAL"?"
  What will the contents of DATA-4 be after the conversion statement is performed, if before conversion
  a) DATA-4 = a/five/?six
  b) DATA-4 = r/Rexx/RRRr
  c) DATA-4 = zfour?inspe
  Answer:
  a) a/FIVE/?six
  b) r/REXX/RRRR
  c) zfour?inspe (no change at all)

       01         WS-TABLE.
           03     WS-TABLE-EL OCCURS 5 TIMES.
               04 FILLER-X PIC X(1) VALUE 'A'. 
               04 WS-EX    REDEFINES FILLER-X 
                           PIC X(1).

• 'AAAAA'.
  The code will compile and execute as Redefinition of an item subordinate to OCCURS clause.

       01         WS-TABLE.
           03     FILLER-X PIC X(5) VALUE 'AAAAA'.
           03     WS-EX    REDEFINES FILLER-X.
               04 WS-TABLE-EL OCCURS 5 TIMES 
                           PIC X(1).

• Yes

       01         WS-TABLE.
           03     FILLER-X PIC X(5) VALUE 'AAAAA'.
           03     WS-EX    REDEFINES FILLER-X OCCURS 5 TIMES 
                           PIC X(1).

• Yes

• The serial SEARCH verb (SEARCH without ALL)

• The output will display 'AAAAA'

• No, the table must be indexed.

• The SEARCH can be applied to only a table which has the OCCURS clause and INDEXED BY phrase.
  Before the use of the SEARCH the index must have some initial value.
  To search from beginning, set the index value to 1.
  Use the SEARCH verb without ALL phrase

• The index named first will be used, by Search.

• The table must be sorted in ascending or descending order before the beginning of the SEARCH. Use OCCURS clause with ASC/DESC KEY IS dataname1 option
  The table must be indexed.
  There is no need to set the index value.
  Use SEARCH ALL verb.

• First the table is split into two halves and in which half, the item need to be searched is determined.
  The half to which the desired item may belong is again divided into two halves and the previous procedure is followed.
  This continues until the item is found. SEARCH ALL is efficient for tables larger than 70 items.

• In a binary search the table element key values must be in ascending or descending sequence.
  The table is 'halved' to search for equal to, greater than or less than conditions until the element is found.
  In a sequential search the table is searched from top to bottom, so (ironically) the elements do not have to be in a specific sequence.
  The binary search is much faster for larger tables, While sequential Search works well with smaller ones.
  SEARCH ALL is used for binary searches; SEARCH for sequential.

• Use the SORTWK01, SORTWK02,..... dd names in the step.
  Number of sort datasets depends on the volume of data being sorted, but a minimum of 3 is required.

• TEST BEFORE. By default the condition is checked before executing the instructions under Perform.

• Packed Decimal fields: Sign is stored as a hex value in the last nibble (4 bits ) of the storage.
  Zoned Decimal fields: As a default, sign is over punched with the numeric value stored in the last bite.

• You can REDEFINE a Variable from one PICTURE class to another PICTURE class by using the same memory location.
  By REDEFINES we can INITIALISE the variable in WORKING-STORAGE Section itself.
  We can REDEFINE a Single Variable into so many sub-variables.
  This facility is very useful in solving Y2000 Problem.

• Here s9(4)comp is small integer ,so two words equal to 8 bytes.
  Totally it will occupy 2 bytes(4 words).
  Here in s9(4) comp-3 as one word is equal to 1/2 byte.
  4 words equal to 2 bytes and sign will occupy 1/2 bytes totally it will occupy 3 bytes.

• SEVEN in COBOL - 85 and THREE in COBOL - 84

• IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
  ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
  DATA DIVISION
  PROCEDURE DIVISION.

• There is a need ed to correct the offending data.
  Many times the reason for SOC7 is an un-initialized numeric item.
  Examine that possibility first.
  Many installations provide you a dump for run time abends ( it can be generated also by calling some subroutines or OS services thru assembly language).
  These dumps provide the offset of the last instruction at which the abend occurred.
  Examine the compilation output XREF listing to get the verb and the line number of the source code at this offset.
  Then you can look at the source code to find the bug.
  To get capture the runtime dumps, you will have to define some datasets (SYSABOUT etc ) in the JCL.
  If none of these are helpful, use judgement and DISPLAY to localize the source of error.
  You may even use batch program debugging tools.

• Alpha-numeric (X), alphabetic (A) and numeric (9).

• For RENAMES clause.

• IS NUMERIC can be used on alphanumeric items, signed numeric & packed decimal items and unsigned numeric & packed decimal items.
  IS NUMERIC returns TRUE if the item only consists of 0-9.
  However, if the item being tested is a signed item, then it may contain 0-9, + and - .

• Must use compiler option SSRANGE if you want array bounds checking.
  Default is NOSSRANGE.

• Performing a SECTION will cause all the paragraphs that are part of the section, to be performed.
  Performing a PARAGRAPH will cause only that paragraph to be performed.

• Yes.

• Does nothing ! If used, must be the only sentence within a paragraph.

• It is stored in the last nibble.
  For example if your number is +100, it stores hex 0C in the last byte, hex 1C if your number is 101, hex 1D if the number is -101, hex 2D if the number is -102 etc...

• In the most significant bit. Bit is on if -ve, off if +ve.

• END-IF
  END-EVALUATE

• Yes.
  Redefines just causes both fields to start at the same location.
  For example:
  01 WS-TOP PIC X(1)
  01 WS-TOP-RED REDEFINES WS-TOP PIC X(2).
  If you MOVE '12' to WS-TOP-RED,
  DISPLAY WS-TOP will show 1 while
  DISPLAY WS-TOP-RED will show 12.

• Yes.

• Make sure that link option is AMODE=31 and RMODE=ANY.
  Compile option should never have SIZE(MAX).
  BUFSIZE can be 2K, efficient enough.

• Elementary level item.
  Cannot be subdivisions of other items (cannot be qualified), nor can they be subdivided themselves.

• For defining condition names.

• Search is a linear search and search all is a binary search.

• A REPORT-item is a field to be printed that contains EDIT SYMBOLS

• Always compare on the highest-level first, because if you have a break at a highest level, each level beneath it must also break.
  Add to the lowest level for each rec but add to the higher level only on break.

• When any data name, file-name , Record-name, condition name or Index defined in an Including Program can be referenced by a directly or indirectly in an included program, Provided the said name has been declared to be a global name by GLOBAL Format of Global Clause is01 data-1 PIC 9(5) IS GLOBAL.

• The Purpose of POINTER phrase is to specify the leftmost position within receiving field where the first transferred character will be stored

• By using Intrinsic function, FUNCTION CURRENT-DATE

• PSB : Program specification block.
  Inform about how a specific program is to be access one or more IMS DB.
  It consists of PCB (Prg Communication Block).
  Information to which segment in DB can be accessed, what the program is allowed to do with those segment and how the DB is to be accessed.
  ACB : Access Control Blocks are generated by IMS as an expansion of information contained in the PSB in order to speed up the access to the applicable DBD's.

• To correct an earlier Answer:All called modules cannot run standalone if they require program variables passed to them via the LINKAGE section.
  DYNAMICally called modules are those that are not bound with the calling program at link edit time (IEWL for IBM) and so are loaded from the program library (joblib or steplib) associated with the job.
  For DYNAMIC calling of a module the DYNAM compiler option must be chosen, else the linkage editor will not generate an executable as it will expect null address resolution of all called modules.
  A STATICally called module is one that is bound with the calling module at link edit, and therefore becomes part of the executable load module.

• 10 Bytes (S9(18) COMP-3).

• SIX SECTIONS
  1. FILE SECTION
  2. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
  3. LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION
  4. SCREEN SECTION
  5. REPORT SECTION
  6. LINKAGE SECTION
  
  In COBOL II, there are only 4 sections.
  1. FILE SECTION
  2. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
  3. LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION
  4. LINKAGE SECTION.

• The ONLY way is to look at the output of the linkage editor (IEWL)or the load module itself.
  If the module is being called DYNAMICALLY then it will not exist in the main module, if it is being called STATICALLY then it will be seen in the load module.
  Calling a working storage variable, containing a program name, does not make a DYNAMIC call.
  This type of calling is known as IMPLICITE calling as the name of the module is implied by the contents of the working storage variable. Calling a program name literal (CALL).

• LDS is a VSAM dataset in name only.
  It has unstructured 4k (4096 bytes) fixed size CIs which do not contain control fields and therefore from VSAM's standpoint they do not contain any logical records.
  There is no freespace, and no access from Cobol.
  Can be accessed by DB2 and IMS fast path datasets.
  LDS is essentially a table of data maintained on disk.
  The 'table entries' must be created via a user program and can only be logically accessed via a user program.
  When passed, the entire LDS must be mapped into storage, then data is accessed via base and displacement type processing.

• PICTURE 9v99 is a three position Numeric field with an implied or assumed decimal point after the first position; the v means an implied decimal point.

• 1) Use 'EVALUATE' stmt for constructing cases.
  2) Use scope terminators for nesting.
  3)Use in-line Perform stmt for writing 'do ' constructions.
  4) Use Test Before and test after in the Perform stmt for writing Do-While constructions.
  
  Read the following code.
  01 ws-n PIC 9(2) value zero.
  a-para.
  move 5 to ws-n.
  perform b-para ws-n times.
  b-para.
  move 10 to ws-n.
  

• 05 Times only.
  it will not take the value 10 that is initialized in the loop.

• PIC 9.99 is a FOUR-POSITION field that actually contains a decimal point where as PIC 9v99 is THREE-POSITION numeric field with implied or assumed decimal position.

• PIC 9.99 is a four position field that actually contains a decimal point where as 9v99 is a three position numeric field with an implied or assumed decimal point.

• A scope terminator brackets its preceding verb, eg. IF .. END-IF, so that all statements between the verb and its scope terminator are grouped together.
  Other common COBOL II verbs are READ, PERFORM, EVALUATE, SEARCH and STRING.

     EVALUATE 
             EVALUATE SQLCODE ALSO FILE-STATUS
                 WHEN A=B AND C = D 
                 WHEN 100 ALSO '00'
                      Imperative stmt imperative stmt
                 WHEN (D + X) / Y = 4 
                 WHEN -305 ALSO '32'
                      imperative stmt imperative stmt
                 WHEN OTHER 
                 WHEN OTHER
                      imperative stmt imperative stmt
             END-EVALUATE 
     END-EVALUATE
 

     EVALUATE SQLCODE ALSO A = B 
             EVALUATE SQLCODE ALSO TRUE
                 WHEN 100 ALSO TRUE 
                 WHEN 100 ALSO A = B
                      imperative stmt imperative stmt
                 WHEN -305 ALSO FALSE 
                 WHEN -305 ALSO (A / C = 4)
                      imperative stmt imperative stmt
             END-EVALUATE 
     END-EVALUATE

• Yes, under COBOL II environment, but not OS/VS COBOL.

• Before IBM introduced MVS/XA architecture in the 1980's a program's virtual storage was limited to 16 megs.
  Programs compiled with a 24-bit mode can only address 16 MB of space, as though they were kept under an imaginary storage line.
  With COBOL II a program compiled with a 31 bit mode can be 'above the 16 Mb line.
  (This 'below the line', 'above the line' imagery confuses most mainframe programmers, who tend to be a literal minded group.)

• Partial list: REMARKS, NOMINAL KEY, PAGE-COUNTER, CURRENT-DAY, TIME-OF-DAY, STATE, FLOW, COUNT, EXAMINE, EXHIBIT, READY TRACE and RESET TRACE.

• The parameters passed in a call by context are protected from modification by the called program.
  In a normal call they are able to be modified.

• Comp is a binary usage, while comp-3 indicates packed decimal.
  The other common usages are binary and display. Display is the default.
  Comp is defined as the fastest/preferred numeric data type for the machine it runs on.
  IBM Mainframes are typically binary and AS400's are packed.'

• A S0C1 occurs if the CPU attempts to execute binary code that isn't a valid machine instruction; e.g. if you attempt to execute data.
  A S0C4 is a memory protection violation.
  This occurs if a program attempts to access storage beyond the areas assigned to it.

• The editing characters are to be used with data items with usage clause as display, which is the default.
  When you try displaying a data item with usage as computational it does not give the desired display format because the data item is stored as packed decimal.
  So if u want this particular data item to be edited u have to move it into a data item whose usage is display and then have that particular data item edited in the format desired.

• S0C1 - May be due to
  1. Missing or misspelled DD name
  2. Read/Write to unopened dataset
  3. Read to dataset opened output
  4. Write to dataset opened input
  5. Called subprogram not found.
  
  S0C4 - may be due to
  1. Missing Select statement(during compile)
  2. Bad Subscript/index
  3. Protection Exception
  4. Missing parameters on called subprogram
  5. Read/Write to unopened file 6. Move data from/to unopened file.
  
  S0C5 - May be due to
  1. Bad Subscript/index
  2. Close an unopen dataset
  3. Bad exit from a perform
  4. Access to I/O area(FD) before read.
  
  S0C7 - may be due to
  1. Numeric operation on non-numeric data
  2. Un-initialize working-storage
  3. Coding past the maximum allowed sub script.
  
  S0CB - may be due to
  1. Division by Zero

• Both give the same results when a program is not calling any other program.

• Global variables are accessible only to the batch program whereas external variables can be referenced from any batch program residing in the same system library.

• Yes, the code will compile without any errors.

• It cannot be executed because the code will compile with error ' "VALUE" literal "'AAAAA'" exceeded the length specified in the "PICTURE" definition'.

• Compile error. Direct Redefinition of OCCURS clause is not allowed.

• When the data is passed between programs, the subprogram refers to and processes the data items in the calling program's storage, rather than working on a copy of the data.
  When
  CALL . . . BY REFERENCE identifier.
  In this case, the caller and the called share the same memory.

• The calling program passes only the contents of the literal, or identifier.
  With a CALL . . . BY CONTENT, the called program cannot change the value of the literal or identifier in the calling program, even if it modifies the variable in which it received the literal or identifier.

• The calling program or method is passing the value of the literal, or identifier, not a reference to the sending data item.
  The called program or invoked method can change the parameter in the called program or invoked method.
  However, because the subprogram or method has access only to a temporary copy of the sending data item, those changes do not affect the argument in the calling program.
  Use By value, If you want to pass data to C program.
  Parameters must be of certain data type.

• Passing by reference (the caller and the called share the same memory).

• Linkage Section

• The PROCEDURE DIVISION header must have a using a phrase, if the data needs to be passed to the program.
  The operands of the USING phrase must be defined in the LINKAGE SECTION as 01-level or 77-level entries.
  No VALUE clause is allowed unless the data defined is a condition name.
  If the program needs to be returned to the CALLER, use EXIT PROGRAM statement at the end of the program.
  GOBACK is an alternative, but is nonstandard.

• NEXT SENTENCE gives control to the verb following the next period.
  CONTINUE gives control to the next verb after the explicit scope terminator.
  (This is not one of COBOL II's finer implementations).
  It's safest to use CONTINUE rather than NEXT SENTENCE in COBOL II.
  CONTINUE is like a null statement (do nothing) , while NEXT SENTENCE transfers control to the next sentence (!!)
  (A sentence is terminated by a period).
  Check out by writing the following code example, one if sentence followed by 3 display statements:
  If 1 > 0 then next sentence end if display 'line 1' display 'line 2'. display 'line 3'.
  *** Note- there is a dot (.) only at the end of the last 2 statements, see the effect by replacing Next Sentence with Continue ***

• Structured programming is a Logical way of programming using which you divide the functionality's into modules and code logically.
  OOP is a Natural way of programming in which you identify the objects, first then write functions and procedures around the objects.
  Sorry, this may not be an adequate answer, but they are two different programming paradigms, which is difficult to put in a sentence or two.

• S9(4) COMP uses only 2 bytes.
  9(4) COMP-3 uses 3 bytes.
  3 bytes are more than 2 bytes.
  Hence COMP is preferred over COMP-3 in this case.

• 8 bytes (double word) and 10 digits.
  Up to 9(9) comp use full word, up to 9(18) comp needs double word.

• 01 ws-hexitem PIC X(2) value X'020C'.
  01 ws-hex redefines PIC S9(3) comp-3.

• 2 bytes (halfword) for 1-4 Digits 4 bytes (fullword) for 5-9
  8 bytes (doubleword) for 10-18

• Scope terminator is used to mark the end of a verb e.g. EVALUATE, END-EVALUATE; IF, END-IF.

• 7

• 7

• Because, Occurs clause is there to repeat fields with the same format, but not the records.

• Yes, if the REDEFINES clause is subordinate to OCCURS clause.

• Local-Storage is allocated each time the program is called and is de-allocated when the program returns via an EXIT PROGRAM, GOBACK, or STOP RUN.
  Any data items with a VALUE clauses are initialized to the appropriate value each time the program is called.
  The value in the data items is lost when the program returns.
  It is defined in the DATA DIVISION after WORKING-STORAGE SECTION

• Evaluate is like a case statement and can be used to replace nested Ifs.
  The difference between EVALUATE and case is that no break is required for EVALUATE i.e. control comes out of the EVALUATE as soon as one match is made.

• If TEST BEFORE is specified, the condition is tested at the beginning of each repeated execution of the specified PERFORM range.
  If TEST AFTER is specified, the condition is tested at the end of the each repeated execution of the PERFORM range.
  With TEST AFTER, the range is executed at least once.

• TEST BEFORE

• PERFORM ... ... END-PERFORM.

• When the body of the perform will not be used in other paragraphs.
  If the body of the perform is a generic type of code (used from various other places in the program), it would be better to put the code in a separate Para and use PERFORM paraname rather than in-line perform.
  

• Yes , evaluation of the when clause proceeds from top to bottom

• After the execution of one of the when clauses, the control is automatically passed on to the next sentence after the EVALUATE statement.
  There is no need of any extra code.

• INITIALIZE sets spaces to alphabetic and alphanumeric fields.
  Initialize sets Zeroes to numeric fields. FILLER, OCCURS DEPENDING ON items are left untouched.
  The REPLACING option can be used to override these defaults.
  

• In COBOL II the 88 levels can be set rather than moving their associated values to the related data item.

• LENGTH acts like a special register to tell the length of a group or an elementary item.

• A delimiter in STRING causes a sending field to be ended and another to be started.

• A delimiter when encountered in the sending field causes the current receiving field to be switched to the next one indicated.

• MOVE 0 TO char-count
  INSPECT null-terminated-string TALLYING char-count FOR CHARACTERS BEFORE X"00"

• 77 COUNTR PIC 9 VALUE ZERO.
  01 DATA-2 PIC X(11). . .
  INSPECT DATA-2 TALLYING COUNTR FOR LEADING "0"
  REPLACING FIRST "A" BY "2" AFTER INITIAL "C"
  If DATA-2 is 0000ALABAMA, what will DATA-2 and COUNTER be after the execution of INSPECT verb?
  
  Answer:
  Counter = 4.
  Data-2 will not change as the Initial 'C' is not found.

• Fixed-point overflow.
  Zero raised to the zero power.
  Division by 0. Zero raised to a negative number.
  A negative number raised to a fractional power.

• REPLACING allows for the same copy to be used more than once in the same code by changing the replace value. COPY xxx REPLACING BY.

• Scope terminators are mandatory for in-line PERFORMS and EVALUATE statements.
  For readability, it's recommended coding practice to always make scope terminators explicit.

• No

• Yes.
  Redefines just causes both fields to start at the same location.
  For example:
  01 WS-TOP PIC X(1)
  01 WS-TOP-RED REDEFINES WS-TOP PIC X(2).
  If you MOVE "12" to WS-TOP-RED,
  DISPLAY WS-TOP will show 1 while
  DISPLAY WS-TOP-RED will show 12.

• (a) OPEN INPUT (x)
  (b) OPEN INPUT-OUTPUT
  (c) OPEN EXTEND
  (d) OPEN OUTPUT

• (1) True (x)
  (2) False
  

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

• (1) The sorted file will contain all Raffles records in ascending order of Y2K-MAIN.
  (2) IBM-MAIN is the major key and Y2K-MAIN is the minor key (x)
  (3) The statement is wrong as there should be only one key since the clause ascending key appears only once.
  (4) Both INPUT-FILE and OUTPUT-FILE must be described in the DATA DIVISION with SD entries.

• (1) All records with same CLASS-NUMBER will appear together in the consecutive positions of the sorted file.
  (2) The data-names CLASS-NUMBER and STUDENT-NAME must appear in the record description of STUDENT-FILE.
  (3) The files INPUT-FILE and OUTPUT-FILE should be opened by an OPEN statement before the SORT statement. (x)
  (4) The sizes of the records described for STUDENT-FILE , INPUT-FILE and OUTPUT-FILE must be equal.

• (1) Can merge a maximum of three files.
  (2) Does not require that the input file to be merged be sorted on the merge keys.
  (3) Requires that all files mentioned in the statement must have records of same size (x)
  (4) Does not require that the position of the merge keys with in the records descriptions of each of the files must be same.

• (1) USING ....... GIVING
  (2) USING ....... INPUT PROCEDURE
  (3) USING ....... OUTPUT PROCEDURE (x)
  (4) INPUT PROCEDURE ....... OUTPUT PROCEDURE

• (1) REWRITE STATEMENT (x)
  (2) WRITE STATEMENT
  (3) START STATEMENT

• (1) a and b
  (2) a and c
  (3) c and d
  (4) a and d (x)

• (1) It must be opened in INPUT mode
  (2) It must be opened in OUTPUT mode
  (3) It must be opened in I-O mode (x)
  (4) As in the case of SORT statement, the file must be closed before the use of this statement

• (1) READ
  (2) WRITE
  (3) REWRITE
  (4) START

• (1) REWRITE
  (2) INSERT (x)
  (3) DELETE
  (4) START

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

• (1) True (x)
  (2) False

• (1) Yes
  (2) No (x)

• (1) Yes
  (2) No (x)

• (1) True (x)
  (2) False

• (1) True (x)
  (2) False

• (1) The EXAMINE statement is incorrect because A does not contain the character "ABC"� in a continuous sequence
  (2) The EXAMINE statement is incorrect as it can be used to replace a numeric literal by another numeric literal.
  (3) The EXAMINE statement is incorrect as it is used to replace a single character by another single character but not a group of characters. (x)
  (4) The EXAMINE statement is incorrect as TALLYING OPTION is missing.

• (1) Yes
  (2) No (x)

• (1) False (x)
  (2) True

• (1) Yes
  (2) No (x)

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

(2) False (x)

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

• (1) There will be a syntax error, as the statement does not contain any DELIMITED BY phrase.
  (2) There will be a syntax error, as the sending string must be identifier and not a literal. (x)
  (3) The statement is correct and after the execution of the statement field-1 will contain the three characters "ABC"� from the left-most position and the
  remaining positions of field-1 will remain unchanged
  (4) The statement is correct and after the execution of the statement field-1 will contain the three characters "ABC"� from the left-most position and the
  remaining positions of field-1 will get filled with spaces.

• (1) RD entry
  (2) INITIATE statement
  (3) SELECT clause (x)
  (4) TERMINATE statement

• (1) REPORT HEADING
  (2) REPORT FOOTING
  (3) DETAIL (x)
  (4) PAGE HEADING
  

• (1) FIRST DETAIL
  (2) LAST DETAIL
  (3) CONTROLS
  (4) LINE NUMBER (x)

• (1) RESET
  (2) INITIATE (x)
  (3) VALUE
  (4) GENERATE

• (1) MOVE
  (2) TOTAL (x)
  (3) SUM
  (4) SOURCE

• (1) True
  (2) False (x)

• (1) CALL RAF-SUB.
  (2) CALL RAF-SUB ON OVER FLOW GO TO MIS-SUB.
  (3) CALL RAF-SUB USING PARAM-1.
  (4) CALL RAF-SUB USING PARAM-1 UNTIL PARAM-1 >10 (x)

• The calling program passes only the contents of the literal, or identifier.
  With a CALL . . . BY CONTENT, the called program cannot change the value of the literal or identifier in the calling program, even if it modifies the variable in which it received the literal or identifier.

• The calling program or method is passing the value of the literal, or identifier, not a reference to the sending data item.
  The called program or invoked method can change the parameter in the called program or invoked method.
  However, because the subprogram or method has access only to a temporary copy of the sending data item, those changes do not affect the argument in the calling program.
  Use By value, If you want to pass data to C program.
  Parameters must be of certain data type.

• Passing by reference (the caller and the called share the same memory).

• Linkage Section

• The PROCEDURE DIVISION header must have a using a phrase, if the data needs to be passed to the program.
  The operands of the USING phrase must be defined in the LINKAGE SECTION as 01-level or 77-level entries.
  No VALUE clause is allowed unless the data defined is a condition name.
  If the program needs to be returned to the CALLER, use EXIT PROGRAM statement at the end of the program.
  GOBACK is an alternative, but is nonstandard.

• NEXT SENTENCE gives control to the verb following the next period.
  CONTINUE gives control to the next verb after the explicit scope terminator.
  (This is not one of COBOL II's finer implementations).
  It's safest to use CONTINUE rather than NEXT SENTENCE in COBOL II.
  CONTINUE is like a null statement (do nothing) , while NEXT SENTENCE transfers control to the next sentence (!!)
  (A sentence is terminated by a period).
  Check out by writing the following code example, one if sentence followed by 3 display statements:
  If 1 > 0 then next sentence end if display 'line 1' display 'line 2'. display 'line 3'.
  *** Note- there is a dot (.) only at the end of the last 2 statements, see the effect by replacing Next Sentence with Continue ***

• Structured programming is a Logical way of programming using which you divide the functionality's into modules and code logically.
  OOP is a Natural way of programming in which you identify the objects, first then write functions and procedures around the objects.
  Sorry, this may not be an adequate answer, but they are two different programming paradigms, which is difficult to put in a sentence or two.

• S9(4) COMP uses only 2 bytes. 9(4) COMP-3 uses 3 bytes.
  3 bytes are more than 2 bytes.
  Hence COMP is preferred over COMP-3 in this case.

• 8 bytes (double word) and 10 digits.
  Up to 9(9) comp use full word, up to 9(18) comp needs double word.

• 2 bytes (halfword) for 1-4 Digits 4 bytes (fullword) for 5-9
  8 bytes (doubleword) for 10-18

• Scope terminator is used to mark the end of a verb e.g. EVALUATE, END-EVALUATE , IF, END-IF.

• 7 (seven)

• 7 (seven)

• Because, Occurs clause is there to repeat fields with the same format, but not the records.

• Yes, if the REDEFINES clause is subordinate to OCCURS clause.

• Yes, the code will compile without any errors.

• It cannot be executed because the code will compile with error ' "VALUE" literal "'AAAAA'" exceeded the length specified in the "PICTURE" definition'.

• Compile error.
  Direct Redefinition of OCCURS clause is not allowed.

• The working storage and linkage section limit has been increased.
  They are 128 megabytes as supposed to 1 megabytes in OS/VS COBOL.
  Introduction of ADDRESS special register.
  31-bit addressing.
  In using COBOL on PC we have only flat files and the programs can access only limited storage, where as in VS COBOL II on M/F the programs can access up to 16MB or 2GB depending on the addressing and can use VSAM files to make I/O operations faster
  

• DB2 pre-compiler (if embedded SQL is used), CICS translator (if CICS program), Cobol compiler, Link editor.
  If DB2 program, create plan by binding the DBRMs.

• Identification Division
  Environment Division
  Data Division
  Procedure Division

• Alpha-numeric (X)
  Alphabetic (A)
  Numeric (9)

• Alphabetic, Alphanumeric fields & alphanumeric edited items are set to SPACES.
  Numeric, Numeric edited items set to ZERO.
  FILLER , OCCURS DEPENDING ON items left untouched

• 01 level can have sublevels from 02 to 49.
  77 cannot have sublevel.

• Elementary level item.
  Cannot be subdivisions of other items (cannot be qualified), nor can they be subdivided themselves.

• For condition names.

• For RENAMES clause.

• IS NUMERIC can be used on alphanumeric items, signed numeric & packed decimal items and unsigned numeric & packed decimal items.
  IS NUMERIC returns TRUE if the item only consists of 0-9. However, if the item being tested is a signed item, then it may contain 0-9, + and - .

• Yes, it is.
  It is equivalent to move u to w.

• When significant left-order digits would be lost in execution, the COMPUTE statement can detect the condition and allow you to handle it.
  The MOVE statement carries out the assignment with destructive truncation.
  Therefore, if the size error is needs to be detected, COMPUTE will be preferred over MOVE. The ON SIZE ERROR phrase of COMPUTE statement, compiler generates code to detect size-overflow.

• If the condition occurs, the code in the ON SIZE ERROR phrase is performed, and the content of the destination field remains unchanged.
  If the ON SIZE ERROR phrase is not specified, the assignment is carried out with truncation.
  There is no ON SIZE ERROR support for the MOVE statement.

• Using SELECT clause, the files can be associated with external data sets.
  The SELECT clause is defined in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph of Input-Output Section that is coded Environment Division.
  The File structure is defined by FD entry under File-Section of Data Division for the OS.

• Associate the file with the external data set using SELECT clause of INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
  INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION appears inside the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.

• Declaratives provide special section that are executed when an exceptional condition occurs.
  They must be grouped together and coded at the beginning of procedure division and the entire procedure division must be divided into sections.
  The Declaratives start with a USE statement.
  The entire group of declaratives is preceded by DECLARIVES and followed by END DECLARITIVES in area A.
  The three types of declaratives are Exception (when error occurs during file handling), Debugging (to debug lines with 'D' coded in w-s section) and Label (for EOF or beginning...) declaratives.

• 01 ARRAYS.
       05 ARRAY1 PIC X(9) OCCURS 10 TIMES.
       05 ARRAY2 PIC X(6) OCCURS 20 TIMES INDEXED BY WS-INDEX.

• No

• The working-storage section is allocated at the start of the run-unit and any data items with VALUE clauses are initialized to the appropriate value at the time.
  When the subprogram is called the second time, a working-storage items persist in their last used state.
  However, if the program is specified with INITIAL on the PROGRAM-ID, working-storage section is reinitialized each time the program is entered.

• COMMON attribute is used with nested COBOL programs.
  If it is not specified, other nested programs will not be able to access the program.
  PROGRAM-ID. Pgmname is COMMON PROGRAM.

• Environment division and Configuration Section.

• Local-Storage is allocated each time the program is called and is de-allocated when the program returns via an EXIT PROGRAM, GOBACK, or STOP RUN.
  Any data items with a VALUE clauses are initialized to the appropriate value each time the program is called.
  The value in the data items is lost when the program returns.
  It is defined in the DATA DIVISION after WORKING-STORAGE SECTION

• When the data is passed between programs, the subprogram refers to and processes the data items in the calling program's storage, rather than working on a copy of the data.
  When CALL . . . BY REFERENCE identifier.
  In this case, the caller and the called share the same memory.