What is the use of comp in COBOL?

COMP usage is a binary representation of data and stores in pure binary format. The operational sign is contained in the leftmost bit. If TRUNC compiler option in effect, BINARY, COMPUTATIONAL and COMPUTATIONAL-4 data items are affected.

What is Comp and Comp-3 in COBOL?

Comp is a binary usage, while comp-3 indicates packed decimal. The other common usages are binary and display. Display is the default. 3/28/00 Dave Herrmann: ‘I was reading your FAQ on Cobol, as an fyi Comp is defined as the fastest/preferred numeric data type for the machine it runs on.

What is Comp-3 variables COBOL?

COBOL Comp-3 is a binary field type that puts (“packs”) two digits into each byte, using a notation called Binary Coded Decimal, or BCD. This halves the storage requirements compared to a character, or COBOL “display”, field.

Why do we use comp?

Usage clause is applicable only on numerical data items. It represents the data purely in binary form. and can store the data either in half word or in full word depending on the size of the data.

Which is faster COMP or COMP-3?

Comp-3 = Packed-Decimal is faster, because the z/Architecture, and also previous architectureres beginning with S/360, has built in instructions to directly manipulate Packed-Decimal data, e.g AP (Add packed).

How do you calculate Comp-3?

To calculate the byte-length of a comp-3 field, start with the total number of digits and divide by 2 giving a result (discarding the remainder if any), then add 1 to the result. So, a field with “pic s9(6) comp-3” would take 4 bytes (6/2 +1).

What is level 88 in COBOL?

88 level number in COBOL is one of the most used declarations in mainframes development and it is considered as a special level number which is used to improve the readability of COBOL programs. As it gives a name to a condition, it is also called as ‘Condition Names’.