J Summary of Document Changes

GnuCOBOL is an ever-evolving tool. While all reasonable attempts will be made to maintain the currency of the information in this document, neither the author of this document nor the authors of the GnuCOBOL software extend any warranties of any kind for this document or for the information contained therein.

8th Edition on release of v3.2 with some updates for 4.0+.

    25/01 Updated version to v3.1.2 with date 25 Jan 21.

  2. 29/01 Updated formats for OCCURS and now only using one file. Ditto for Quick Reference.

  3. 7/02 Added procedure statement EXHIBIT, updated reserved words in Appendix C and removed same in Appendix B.

    @item{{ }} 4/03 Modified Exhibit points 1/2 to loose the blank lines.

    @item{{ }} 12/04 Updated text for CBL_SET_CSR_POS, repos EXHIBIT to 15B.

    @item{{ }} 13/05 Updated USAGE for BINARY=C-LONG. Updated version to v3.2 with date 13 May 2021.

    @item{{ }} 15/05 Updated EXHIBIT and renumbered paragraphs.

  4. 24/08 Added detail for ACCEPT DAY-OF-WEEK. Changed descriptive for Display screen-data-name removing screen and adding position specs see bug #743 now cleared.

  5. 30/08 Change Appendix F to separate sections F1 through F4 adding changes for v3.1.1 and v4. Added updates.texi after E.texi for latest document updates.

  6. 5/09 Added Intrinsic functions BIT-OF, BIT-TO-CHAR, HEX-OF, HEX-TO-CHAR as 8.1.105 thru 108.but needs resorting of # in 8.1. Updated definition for C$SLEEP.

  7. 12.09 Multi typo’s in sections 2, 3.5, .14, 6.9.51, 8.1.64B (chgd 2 to V2, 12.2, spotted by Patrik - Thank you for the updates.

  8. 17/10 Extra information regarding LINE SEQUENTIAL file processing in 2.1.8 which refers to 10.2.3.4 and 10.2.3.7.

  9. 17/10 CDF PAGE directive changes to details. Likewise to the Quick Reference manual.

  10. 21/11 DIVIDE statement minor changes (#786).

  11. 23/11 DIVIDE changed as 7.8.13.1 INTO and 13.3 BY, must have been asleep.

  12. 25/11 Updated example listings in 10.1.1. updated to current default.conf in 10.1.5 as out of date.

  13. 23/12 Update to START verb to make KEY compulsory for ISAM.

  14. 24/12 Update to START added missing sub clauses [WITH SIZE] | [WITH LENGTH].

  15. 25/12 Update to sections 10.2.2 and 10.2.3 to clarify where program modules are loaded from i.e., directories pointed to by COB_LIBRARY-PATH and only if not found in PATH. Update to syntax diagran for START to clarify that SIZE and LENGTH keywords are mandatory words even if obvious. Updated description for COMBINED-DATETIME

  16. 31/12 Update to section 6.8.1 change program names to Usage-Lengths and replace the source listing to be correct positioned on cc8 as well as giving o/p for 64bit Linux. Bug #799.

  18. 07/01 Remove references to PATH in 10.2.2 &.3 wrong.

  19. 16/01 In 2.2.5 near bottom example of compute 5 / 2.5 + 7 * 2 - 1.15 had wrong result, should be 14.85. Clean up descriptions for USAGE COMP[UTATIONAL] & COMP etc in 6.9.49 and 7.8.1.2 accept from command-line.

  20. 24/01 In 7.8.23 type fixed of elementary - remove ‘3’ no vers change.

  21. 17/02 In DISPLAY type 4 added OMITTED in place of identifier-1 to stop any screen content to change.

  22. 07/03 IN 7.8.1.9, Accept EXCEPTION-STATUS these are two words i.e., EXCEPTION STATUS not one.

  23. 27/03 In 3.6 A comment included to advise that >>DEFINE should be used for new programs, over >>SET as it is not in the Cobol Standards. Included in 10.1 -Wno-terminator to stop warnings when not using END-XXX (Also see -Wterminator).

  24. 07/04 IN section 3 CDF commands I have changed starting point from CC8 to cc7 as highlighted by Chris Gabel.

  25. 21/04 In section 8.1 updated BYTE-LENGTH amd LENGTH-AN where referencing 16 bit characters to use N(4) instead of X(4).

  26. 23/04 In section 11.6.1.1, for Definitions of ‘By Reference’ and ‘By Content’ added missing ‘by’. Spotted by Michael F Gleason, bug 828.

  27. 03/05 In 8.1.82 & 83 for SUBSTITUTE and SUBSTITUE-CASE text on usage of variables, the need to use function TRIM is needed to remove leading and trailing spaces must be considered with example code block.

  28. 15/05 In section 7.8.48 TRANSFORM added ‘CHARACTERS’ to the format it has no effect with or without.

  29. 1/06 In section 5.1.3 Show example of REPOSITORY has only the last entry with a period. In keeping with SPECIAL-NAMES etc that only the last entry has the period / full stop terminator. Use extra space in 6.9.49 to show that the TO value in the FROM / TO values is NOT negative as only the From value is usually is.

  30. 26/06 In 2.2.4 (+) should have been (-). Added Type (format 1) TYPEDEF, SAME AS in 6.9 and shifted down section numbers.

  31. 29/06 Minor corrections to text for TYPEDEF, SAME AS & missing page reference. USAGE text addition.

  32. 1/07 Adding XDF chapter 13. Early days - needs tidying up.

  33. 6/07 In 6.9.53 added WHEN SET TO FALSE sub-clause in SYN-DD-VALUE-1.

  34. 9/07 In 6.9.49 typo date should be data.

  35. 10/07 Added functions CONCAT, CONTENT-LENGTH and CONTENT-OF.

  36. 11/07 Adjusted and sorted functions at 8.1.

  37. 12/07 In 2.1.2 added details regardingsize of a user defined word i.e., from 31 chars to 63 using the right -std. In 7.8.17 EXIT statement RETURNING|GIVING missing from EXIT PROGRAM and description details.

  38. 13/07 For ENTRY added missing GO TO and other content.

  39. 16/07 For GO TO ENTRY entry-name added.

  40. 27/08 Updated context for >>SOURCE in section 3.7 for FIXED, FREE, VARIABLE and others, likewise for >>SET. Updated copyright for FSF.

  41. 05/09 Added new clauses in 6.9 - Data Description Clauses for PG and QR.

  42. 11/09 Added PICTURE option 1 bit or boolean in 6.9.33 with a warning about compiler version implementation from v3.1-rc1. In 6.9.46 last sentence changed ‘four’ to ‘eight’ for a double word binary number.

  43. 26/09 Added Standard 85 EXAMINE verb at 7.8.15B.

  44. 29/09 Added extra notes for CODE-SET referring to compiler version and the NEWS file.

  45. 06/12 At 8.2.44 for offset addition to “The first byte of a file is byte offset 0” is “and MUST be preset to zero for first use”.

  47. 02/01 At 7.8.1.5 Added ACCEPT from MICROSECOND-TIME (ACU. New commit [r4908] by sf-mensch.

  48. 03/01 At 7.8.1.5 Added more information regarding TIME and MICROSECONDS-TIME and update for FORMATTED-CURRENT-DATE in 8.1.29.

  49. 04/01 7.8.1.5 Diagram had missing TIME and text had 2 copies of it.

  50. 06/01 6.8.1 01-Level Constants, added arithmetic-expression-1. Re-introduced Updates from ed. 8.

  51. 15/01 8.1.33 FRACTION-PART Included text to specify picture must include preceding ‘V’ and provide better example.

  52. 25/01 8.1.94 TEST-FORMATTED-DATETIME - Improved the text and provide an example of usage. Added extra info regarding Date/Time formats but may not apply to specific compiler version.

  53. 22/02 6.8.1 Changed order for literal-1 and arthmetic-expression & 4 added arthmetic-expression. In 7.8.9 Cleaned up COMPUTE (=|) to (= | ). Correct spelling of expression in various places in section 6.

  54. 20/05 6.9.53 VALUE for tables new sub extry, 8.1.6 & 6 examples provided.

  55. 9/06 10.1.4 Minor order change + text for copy order.

  56. 12/06 2:1.12.2 Added extra item for Extended colours thanks to Eugenio.

  57. 06/07 6.9.24 Additional notes regarding JUSTIFIED right.

  58. 28/07 Issued for gnucobol release v3.2.

  59. 09/08 Updated 5.2.1 with extra exception code.

  60. 05/09 Removed UPPER & LOWER from Screen set attributes at 6.7 as not available.

  61. 13/10 In 6.9.33 missing ‘P’.

  62. 30/10 In 8.1.94 Replaced slanted quote with regular one as it is not appearing on screens. 2.1.12.2 refresh text regarding COB_LEGACY and color codes 8 - 15.

  63. 02/12 IN 6.9.1 [ANY LENGTH] Changed text detail and added [ANY NUMERIC] with similar text. Ditto updated Programmers amd Quick References for same. Add new page for 8.2.49 as it was on same page as 8.2.48.

  64. 03/11 Added 8.2.48 CBL_GC_SET_SCR_SIZE and increased by one all further references in this section. It serves as a place holder only as the details will NOT be correct when this function is supported in GC in PG, Pr and QR.

  65. 05/12 Provide examples for 8.1.30 - 32 FORMATTED DATE and TIME etc. Spelling for 8.2.48, CBL_SET_SCR_SIZE as used GET instead of SET.

  66. 11/12 Updated file status codes and included example snipit code for using them.

  67. 13/12 In 5.2.1 fix coding bug in example that was using wrong CC for input of return key - new manual created. Additional text for CALL convention in 3.1.

  68. 16/12 Updated 7.3 to advise that PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING is only for functions as there are issues regarding platform in use.

  69. 2024

  70. 12/01 Updated by lefessan, for mis-spelled SYNCHRONISED / SYNCHRONIZED in various places and other stuff not recorded by him. Added NEW file SYN-DD-SYNCHRONIZED.texi and removed SYN-DD-SYNCRONIZED.texi that he missed.

  71. 15/01 Updated 6.9.30 No-ECHO and 6.9.42 for error in descriptions and text. 15/01 Updated 7.8.1.4, 7.8.12.4 for CONTROL, COLOUR, COLOUR & GRAPHICS. 15/01 Updated with examples for ANNUITY and PRESENT-VALUE.