COBOL-DB2 Program Interview Question

anandinmainframe · Active User Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 171 Location: India

Hi All,
This is a question asked in an interview.
"What are all the Basic steps will be taken while writing a brand new (from scratch) Cobol-DB2 program".
I have worked on most of the enhancement project so i didnt answered that question properly can someone tell me the answer for this.

dbzTHEdinosauer · Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:51 pm

Anuj Dhawan · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:26 pm

Some time lately, I was also asked a similar question about a COBOL-IMS program. And my first reaction was, who will I be reporting into if I get selected?

Some time Indian IT standard sucks like hell, amen and you tell them what they want to listen:

Start by finding the information you need to extract. You have to have the client's specifications.
You need to know what type of information they are looking for in order to know what table or tables you need to access in order to complete the assignment.
Contact the person in charge of the tables to get a layout. You will need this in order to know where the data is when you are ready to put together the final information for your client.
Identify the name of the table in your program. DB2 needs to know where to go to get the data. Programming is like giving directions. You must indicate every step for the program to be able to get to it's destination.
Add any definitions. You must use the variable name that is used in the table; you can't assign your own name.
Run the program. If there are any problems than you will need to correct them and run the program again until you are able to get the data that is needed for your client.

This is a very simple DB2 program - which is subject to change if there are, other rather tough, specifcaions given by client.