/CobolBasics

Cobol - Nostalgia for the old-school. Very easy examples. Simple Cobol programs.

Primary LanguageCOBOLMIT LicenseMIT

Cobol Basics

Calling all retro lovers, modern hipsters, and old-school programmers!

Tired of Python? Looking for something that will get your blood pumping and your binary neurons firing? Then this repository is for you!

Our code is written in Cobol, a language so old that only dinosaurs and bearded hipsters remember it. But don't let that scare you away! Cobol isn't just for the old-timers, it's for anyone who wants to experience real programming.

Simple Calculator

  • Simple Calculator
  • This code shows the basic structure of a simple calculator program written in COBOL.

Here's a breakdown of each section:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION

This section identifies the program. Here, it's named FIRST-CALCULATOR.

DATA DIVISION

This section defines the program's data storage areas. We're focusing on the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION:

  • 01 X PIC S999. - Declares a numeric variable named X that can hold signed values with a maximum of 3 digits (including the sign).
  • 01 Y PIC S999. - Similar to X, but stores the second number entered by the user.
  • 01 TOTAL PIC S9999. - Holds the sum of X and Y. It can accommodate signed values up to 4 digits.
  • 01 DIFFERENCE PIC S9999. - Stores the difference between X and Y. Similar size capacity to TOTAL.
  • 01 PRODUCT PIC S999999. - Holds the product of multiplying X by Y. It can handle signed values up to 6 digits.
  • 01 QUATIENT PIC S9999V99. - Stores the result of dividing X by Y. It can hold signed values with 4 digits before the decimal point and 2 digits after.
  • 01 ANSWER PIC A(1) VALUE "N". - Declares a single-character variable named ANSWER initialized to "N". This will be used to decide if the user wants to repeat calculations.

PROCEDURE DIVISION

This part contains the program's instructions, which are grouped within a paragraph named RepeteCalculation.

  • DISPLAY prompts and ACCEPT user input:
    • The program displays messages asking the user to enter the first and second numbers in the specified format (S999).
    • It then uses the ACCEPT statement to read the user's input and store it in X and Y.
  • Calculations:
    • ADD X Y GIVING TOTAL - Adds X and Y and stores the result in TOTAL.
    • SUBTRACT Y FROM X GIVING DIFFERENCE - Subtracts Y from X and stores the result in DIFFERENCE.
    • MULTIPLY X BY Y GIVING PRODUCT - Multiplies X by Y and stores the result in PRODUCT.
    • DIVIDE X BY Y GIVING QUATIENT - Divides X by Y and stores the result in QUATIENT.
  • DISPLAY results:
    • The program displays the values of X, Y, and the calculated results (TOTAL, DIFFERENCE, PRODUCT, and QUATIENT) using the DISPLAY statement.
  • Loop control:
    • It asks the user if they want to repeat the calculation with a yes or no question.
    • Based on the user's input (ANSWER), it decides whether to repeat the process by using an IF statement.
    • If the answer is "Y", it jumps back to the RepeteCalculation paragraph using the GO TO statement.
  • STOP RUN: This statement gracefully terminates the program's execution.