COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.08+, J06.03+)

Usage Considerations:
• A Program Can Be Both Initial and Common
• Storage Allocation For an Initial Program
For an initial program, all data items are allocated dynamically.
When a program declares very large data items that do not have initial values assigned,
including a NOBLANK directive in the compilation saves significant amounts of compilation
time, object program storage space on disk, and run-time initialization time. If you must
initialize such items to spaces, use VALUE clauses, INITIALIZE statements, or MOVE statements
of the form:
MOVE ALL SPACES TO x.
• Qualification of a File-Name in an ASSIGN Command
The program-name can also be used in the command interpreter ASSIGN command, where
it serves to qualify a file-name. For example, suppose a COBOL program having the
program-name “MAILING-LIST” contains the statement:
SELECT IN-FILE ASSIGN TO "$WEST.CALIF.LIVEONES"...
You can reassign the IN-FILE of that program by issuing the command interpreter command
ASSIGN MAILING-LIST.IN-FILE, $MIDWST.OKLA.PROSPCTS
before executing the object program. See the Guardian User’s Guide for more information
about the ASSIGN command.
DATE-COMPILED Paragraph
NOTE: The 1985 COBOL standard classifies the DATE-COMPILED paragraph as obsolete, so
you are advised not to use it. Instead, use a comment, as in Example 23.
The DATE-COMPILED paragraph directs the compiler to report the compilation date and time in
the listing, which the compiler already does by default.
DATE-COMPILED
must begin in area A, have a space in the indicator field, be completely contained on a single
program text line, and end with a period followed by a space.
If you split the reserved word DATE-COMPILED across program lines, the compiler handles the
paragraph as a simple comment-entry and does not replace its contents with the date and time
of compilation.
comment-entry
is any combination of characters from the ASCII character set.
The first keyword following a comment-entry must start on a program text line that has a
space character in its indicator field. This keyword must start in area A and be preceded by
space characters only.
A comment-entry cannot be continued with the hyphen convention; however, it can be
implicitly continued onto additional program text lines if area A of those lines contains space
characters only.
Except for checking its syntax, the compiler ignores comment-entry and replaces it with
the date and time of the compilation, which it prints on the listing in this format:
DATE-COMPILED. yy/mm/dd - hh:mm:ss
DATE-COMPILED Paragraph 99