Multiple choice technology mainframe

How do you define COMP-1 / COMP-2?

  1. DEFINE WS-VAR PIC(9) COMP-1

  2. 01 WS-VAR PIC(9) COMP-1

  3. 01 WS-VAR USAGE COMP-1

  4. Author should learn COBOL
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

COMP-1 and COMP-2 are defined using the USAGE clause, not the PIC clause. The correct syntax is '01 WS-VAR USAGE COMP-1' for single-precision floating point or 'USAGE COMP-2' for double-precision. Options A and B incorrectly use PIC.

AI explanation

COBOL data items declare a usage clause with the USAGE keyword (or it can be implicit), so a floating-point item is defined as 01 WS-VAR USAGE COMP-1. There's no DEFINE verb for data definitions in COBOL, and omitting USAGE before the type keyword isn't standard syntax for declaring the usage clause explicitly.

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