HP COBOL Version 2.9 for OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS I64

Software
Product
Description
PRODUCT NAME: HP COBOL Version 2.9 for OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS I64 SPD 45.92.16
DESCRIPTION
HP COBOL for OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS Indus-
try Standard 64 for Integrity servers is a high-level lan-
guage for business data processing that operates on
the OpenVMS Operating System. HP COBOL (formerly
named Compaq COBOL) is based upon the 1985 ANSI
COBOL Standard X3.23-1985 as modified by the X.23a-
1989 amendment and is closely compatible with Com-
paq COBOL for OpenVMS VAX and Compaq COBOL
for Tru64 UNIX.
HP COBOL adheres to the high level by the National
Bureau of Standards for conformance to FIPS PUB 21-
3, Federal Standard COBOL.
HP COBOL includes various industry standard and ex-
tensions to COBOL, including screen handling at the
source language level, file sharing, the ANSI Report
Writer facility, and most X/Open features.
The COPY FROM DICTIONARY statement, a HP
COBOL extension, allows access to common record
definitions stored in Oracle CDD/Repository for OpenVMS
Alpha and I64. Oracle CDD/Repository must be in-
stalled to use this feature.
The Data Manipulation Language (DML), another HP
COBOL extension, allows users to write programs
that access DBMS databases using the Oracle DBMS
database product. A separate manual, HP COBOL
DBMS Database Programming, describes the syntax
and usage of the Oracle CODAYSL DBMS support in HP
COBOL. Oracle CODAYSL DBMS support and the as-
sociated manual are bundled with HP COBOL on Open-
VMS I64. An optional HP COBOL DBMS programming
license is required to make use of these features with
HP COBOL on OpenVMS Alpha.
HP COBOL V2.9 for OpenVMS Alpha and I64 includes
the following functionality and documentation:
• Run-time currency sign handling compatible with the
draft ANSI-2002 standard
• Enhanced support for extended (>65,535 bytes) al-
phanumerics
• Enhanced support for RMS Journaling
• Run-time performance improvements with the reen-
abling of decimal shadowing
• Unified documentation set for HP COBOL on VAX,
Alpha and I64.
For recent release specific technical information such as
feature enhancements, bug fixes, restrictions and com-
patibility charts, please refer to the HP COBOL V2.9
Release Notes.
HP COBOL supports the industry-standard SCREEN
SECTION (as specified in the X/Open Portability Guide,
Release 3). The SCREEN SECTION makes it easier
and more efficient to design user-interface screens and
to accept and display a full screen of data with a single
ACCEPT statement and a single DISPLAY statement,
instead of multiple statements.
For added flexibility and for compatibility with HP
COBOL for OpenVMS VAX Systems, the following ad-
ditional extensions to COBOL are implemented in HP
COBOL:
• Screen handling is implemented using the DISPLAY
and ACCEPT statements. The DISPLAY state-
ment enables a programmer to display information or
prompts anywhere on a video screen. The ACCEPT
statement takes information typed anywhere on the
screen and returns the value to a running COBOL
August 2007