COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Data Division
HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
7-74
USAGE Clause
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COMPUTATIONAL-3/PACKED-DECIMAL Data Items
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Purpose
COMPUTATIONAL-3/PACKED-DECIMAL data items are provided for data
compatibility with systems other than NonStop systems. They are not
recommended for other purposes.
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Inefficiency
Packed-decimal data format is inefficient because HP hardware does not
support it. Avoid using it if possible, especially in benchmarks and
performance-critical programs.
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Where you can use them
You can use COMPUTATIONAL-3/PACKED-DECIMAL data items wherever
you can use data items that do not have USAGE DISPLAY.
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SYNCHRONIZED clause
The SYNCHRONIZED clause (with or without the LEFT or RIGHT phrase) has
no effect on COMPUTATIONAL-3/PACKED-DECIMAL declarations.
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See Trapping Size Errors.
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COMPUTATIONAL-5 Data Items
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Purpose
The COMPUTATIONAL-5 data type is compatible with the X/Open COBOL
specification (see the X/Open CALL Statement).
Signed COMPUTATIONAL-5 data items are equivalent to NATIVE-n data
items, but unsigned COMPUTATIONAL-5 data items can store a larger range
of values than the corresponding NATIVE-n data items (see in PICTURE
clause).