Abstract
A COBOL program is made up of four Divisions:
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1.
The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
This must contain the program’s name — as follows:
PROGRAM-ID. name
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2.
The ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
If the program uses peripheral devices (e.g. disk, tape, printer) — details will be shown here. Otherwise, this division will often be empty.
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3.
The DATA DIVISION.
This describes the memory space needed for data the program will use. It contains one or more SECTIONS; the most common are the FILE SECTION and the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
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4.
The PROCEDURE DIVISION.
This contains the actual program instructions. It may be split into Sections and Paragraphs (with names given by the programmer).
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© 1992 A. P. Royce
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Royce, T. (1992). Structure of a COBOL Program. In: Structured COBOL. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12240-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12240-0_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-54738-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-12240-0
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