Introduction to

COBOL
 COBOL
 COBOL is an acronym which stands for
Common Business Oriented Language.
 The name indicates the target area of COBOL
applications.
 COBOL is used for developing business, typically
file-oriented, applications.
 It is not designed for writing systems programs. You
would not develop an operating system or a
compiler using COBOL.
 COBOL is one of the oldest computer languages in
use (it was developed around the end of the 1950s).
As a result it has some idiosyncracies which
programmers may find irritating.
 COBOL idiosyncracies
 One of the design goals was to make the language as
English-like as possible. As a consequence
 the COBOL reserved word list is quite extensive and
contains hundreds of entries.
 COBOL uses structural concepts normally associated
with English prose such as section, paragraph, sentence
and so on.
As a result COBOL programs tend to be verbose.
 Some implementations require the program text to
adhere to certain, archaic, formatting restrictions.
 Although modern COBOL has introduced many of the
constructs required to write well structured programs it
also still retains elements which, if used, make it
difficult, and in some cases impossible, to write good
programs.
 The COBOL Metalanguage - Syntax Notation
 Words in uppercase are reserved words.
 When underlined they must be present when the
operation of which they are a part is used.
 When they are not underlined the used for readability
only and are optional. If used they must be spelt correctly.
 Words in mixed case represent names which will be
devised by the programmer.
 When material is enclosed in braces { } a choice must
be made from the options within the braces.
 Material is enclosed in square brackets [ ] indicates that
the material is an option which may be included or
omitted as required.
 The ellipsis symbol ‘...’ indicates that the preceding
syntax element may be repeated at the programmer’s
discretion.
Structure of COBOL programs.

Program

Divisions

Section(s)

Paragraph(s)

Sentence(s)

Statement(s)
 The Four Divisions.

DIVISIONS are used to identify the principal components

of the program text. There are four DIVISIONS in all.

 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
 DATA DIVISION.
 PROCEDURE DIVISION.

Although some of the divisions may be omitted the

sequence in which the DIVISIONS are specified is fixed
and must follow the pattern shown above.
 Functions of the four divisions.
 The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION is used to supply
information about the program to the programmer
and to the compiler.
 The ENVIRONMENT DIVISION describes to the
compiler the environment in which the program will
run.
 As the name suggests, the DATA DIVISION is used
to provide the descriptions of most of the data to be
processed by the program.
 The PROCEDURE DIVISION contains the description
of the algorithm which will manipulate the data
previously described. Like other languages COBOL
provides a means for specifying sequence,
selection and iteration constructs.
 COBOL Program Text Structure

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Program Details
NOTE
DATA DIVISION. The keyword
DIVISION and a
‘full-stop’ is used
Data Descriptions in every case.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Algorithm Description
 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

 The purpose of the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION is to

provide information about the program to the
programmer and to the compiler.
 Most of the entries in the IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION are directed at the programmer and are
treated by the compiler as comments.
 An exception to this is the PROGRAM-ID clause.
Every COBOL program must have a PROGRAM-ID.
It is used to enable the compiler to identify the
program.
 There are several other informational paragraphs
in the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION but we will ignore
them for the moment.
 The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION Syntax.
 The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION has the following
structure
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. NameOfProgram.
[AUTHOR. YourName.]

 The keywords IDENTIFICATION DIVISION represent

the division header and signal the commencement
of the program text.
 The paragraph name PROGRAM-ID is a keyword. It
must be specified immediately after the division
header.
 The program name can be up to 30 characters long.
 The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION Syntax.
 The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION has the following
structure
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. NameOfProgram.
[AUTHOR. YourName.]
$ SET SOURCEFORMAT"FREE"
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SequenceProgram.
AUTHOR. Michael Coughlan.

 The keywords IDENTIFICATION DIVISION represent

the division header and signal the commencement
of the program text.
 The paragraph name PROGRAM-ID is a keyword. It
must be specified immediately after the division
header.
 The program name can be up to 30 characters long.
 The DATA DIVISION.

 The DATA DIVISION is used to describe most of

the data that a program processes.
 The DATA DIVISION is divided into two main
sections;
 FILE SECTION.

 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

 The FILE SECTION is used to describe most of

the data that is sent to, or comes from, the
computer’s peripherals.
 The WORKING-STORAGE SECTION is used to
describe the general variables used in the
program.
 DATA DIVISION Syntax
 The DATA DIVISION has the following structure

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION. 
 
 File Section entries.
 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
 
 WS entries. 

$ SET SOURCEFORMAT"FREE"
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. Sequence-Program.
AUTHOR. Michael Coughlan.

DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 Num1 PIC 9 VALUE ZEROS.
01 Num2 PIC 9 VALUE ZEROS.
01 Result PIC 99 VALUE ZEROS.
 The PROCEDURE DIVISION.

 The PROCEDURE DIVISION is where all the data

described in the DATA DIVISION is processed and
produced. It is here that the programmer describes
his algorithm.
 The PROCEDURE DIVISION is hierarchical in
structure and consists of Sections, Paragraphs,
Sentences and Statements.
 Only the Section is optional. There must be at least
one paragraph, sentence and statement in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
 In the PROCEDURE DIVISION paragraph and section
names are chosen by the programmer. The names
used should reflect the processing being done in the
paragraph or section.
 Sections

 A section is a block of code made up of one or more

paragraphs.
 A section begins with the section name and ends
where the next section name is encountered or
where the program text ends.
 A section name consists of a name devised by the
programmer or defined by the language followed by
the word SECTION followed by a full stop.
 SelectUlsterRecords SECTION.

 FILE SECTION.
 Paragraphs

 Each section consists of one or more paragraphs.

 A paragraph is a block of code made up of one or
more sentences.
 A paragraph begins with the paragraph name and
ends with the next paragraph or section name or the
end of the program text.
 The paragraph name consists of a name devised by
the programmer or defined by the language
followed by a full stop.
 PrintFinalTotals.

 PROGRAM-ID.
 Sentences and Statements.
 A paragraph consists of one or more sentences.
 A sentence consists of one or more statements and is
terminated by a full stop.
 MOVE .21 TO VatRate
COMPUTE VatAmount = ProductCost * VatRate.
 DISPLAY "Enter name " WITH NO ADVANCING
ACCEPT StudentName
DISPLAY "Name entered was " StudentName.
 A statement consists of a COBOL verb and an operand
or operands.
 SUBTRACT Tax FROM GrossPay GIVING NetPay

 READ StudentFile
AT END SET EndOfFile TO TRUE
END-READ
 A Full COBOL program.

$ SET SOURCEFORMAT"FREE"
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SequenceProgram.
AUTHOR. Michael Coughlan.

DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 Num1 PIC 9 VALUE ZEROS.
01 Num2 PIC 9 VALUE ZEROS.
01 Result PIC 99 VALUE ZEROS.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
CalculateResult.
ACCEPT Num1.
ACCEPT Num2.
MULTIPLY Num1 BY Num2 GIVING Result.
DISPLAY "Result is = ", Result.
STOP RUN.
 The minimum COBOL program.

$ SET SOURCEFORMAT"FREE"
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SmallestProgram.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DisplayPrompt.
DISPLAY "I did it".
STOP RUN.