Comp fields storage in memory

Talent · New User Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 1

Hi all,

If i have a field PIC 9(8) comp .... having value '4020722' , how will it be stored in memory..... will it be in its binary form i.e. 1111 1010 1011 0011 1110 0010 or something else.
I need to write a Conversion Program in C++ that will convert an ASCII number to EBCDIC comp value. Can someone help me with this.
Thanks in advance.

Allu · New User Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 4

Hi Talent.......

What you guessed is correct, It stores in Binary only.

Actually, BINARY, COMP, and COMP-4 are synonyms on all platforms.
Binary format numbers occupy 2, 4, or 8 bytes of storage. If the PICTURE clause specifies that the item is signed, the leftmost bit is used as the operational sign. A binary number with a PICTURE description of four or fewer decimal digits occupies 2 bytes; five to nine decimal digits, 4 bytes; and 10 to 18 decimal digits, 8 bytes. Binary items with nine or more digits require more handling by the
compiler.

Thanks
Allu.

Allu · New User Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 4

Hi Talent.......

What you guessed is correct, It stores in Binary only.

Actually, BINARY, COMP, and COMP-4 are synonyms on all platforms.
Binary format numbers occupy 2, 4, or 8 bytes of storage. If the PICTURE clause specifies that the item is signed, the leftmost bit is used as the operational sign. A binary number with a PICTURE description of four or fewer decimal digits occupies 2 bytes; five to nine decimal digits, 4 bytes; and 10 to 18 decimal digits, 8 bytes. Binary items with nine or more digits require more handling by the
compiler.

Thanks
Allu.

mmwife · Super Moderator Joined: 30 May 2003 Posts: 1526

Hi Guys,

Here's what I get for the binary value of dec 4020722:

0011 1101 0101 1001 1111 0010

What Allu says about the sign is correct but can be misleading. A negative number is represented as the "twos complement" of the positive.

The "twos complement" calculation process follows:

Change every bit in the field containing the pos number to its complement, i.e. ones to zeros, zeros to ones. Add 1 to the low order bit.

Some examples:

A binary 1 is 0000 0001 Its negative is 1111 1111
A binary 2 is 0000 0010 Its negative is 1111 1110

If these values were in 4 byte fields the positive's zeros would extend to the left filling the field, as you know.

However, the negative's ones would extend to the left filling the field.