Why we declare High & Low values in COBOL?

Mahesh Kkaumudi · New User Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 1 Location: Hyderabad

dbzTHEdinosauer · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:45 pm

what do you mean?

Anuj Dhawan · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:03 pm

Did you mean "what" instead of "why" in your question?

However if it's "why", I'd, probably say, there are occasions when you may wish to set a variable to an infinitely high or infinitely low number. For example, this thread might give you a hint.

Binop B · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:30 pm

Robert Sample · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:09 pm

The "why" is real simple -- we need HIGH-VALUES or LOW-VALUES in the program.

Kjeld · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:46 pm

HIGH VALUE or LOW VALUE are typically used for initialising storage ares to prove that previous contents have been erased. In applications were your execution logic does not control the usual 'modify before reference' sequence it can be useful to use these special literal values to ensure your data areas are in a initialized state.