Output of a cobol pgm

kespra · New User Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 24 Location: bangalore

If 1>0
next sentence
endif.
Display"Line1".
Display"Line2"..
Display"Line3"

What is the output of this??

Anuj D. · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:02 pm Post subject:

Hi,

As posted - the code will not compile. Did you try it, what was the result ?

kespra · New User Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 24 Location: bangalore

No this was asked in an interview and may I know the reason why it will not compile.

Anuj D. · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:29 pm Post subject:

Hi,

Well, when I tried the given code, at my shop, compilation was fialed with the following description -

The indicated statement contains a comparison between the two indicated literals. The indicated comparison was ignored.

Respecify the indicated statement so that the indicated comparison is removed. Since the outcome of comparing two literals (i.e., two known, unvarying values) is always predictable, respecify the indicated statement without the indicated comparison but so that it will function as if the comparison had taken place and given the predictable result.

kespra · New User Joined: 03 Jun 2008 Posts: 24 Location: bangalore

Then how to debug and what changes has to be made in the pgm.

Robert Sample · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:

Debugging implies a working program. This program won't compile so it doesn't work by default. No debugging is required.

Since the error message says two literals cannot be compared, and the IF statement is syntactically null anyway, delete the entire IF statement and proceed.

Anuj D. · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:

Hi,

You can try something like -

arcvns · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject:

Since the result of the comparison is already known, modify the statement to remove the comparison to function as if the comparison has taken place and given the result.

In short if the statement if TRUE, remove the IF condition alone and if the statement is FALSE, remove the IF condition and its content.

Thanks,
Arun