Which is the most important Division in Cobol programming

mytags · Active User Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 64 Location: US

Hi all,
I got a question from an interviewer recently that" Which is the most important Division in Cobol programming" I answered for it but he is not fully satisfied, Can any body reply with a most apt answer for this question?
With Thanks
Hari

the_gautam · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:51 am Post subject:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

yogeshwar_ade · Active User Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 72 Location: INDIA

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

WE cant proceed to any other division without this one. Correct me if I am wrong.

enrico-sorichetti

Just curios

Why ?

I just searched the net and the opinions differ
DATA and PROCEDURE are quoted mostly

since the COBOL Divisions are mandatory
it' s just a stupid question posed to embarrass the candidate
without any relevance to real skills

mytags · Active User Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 64 Location: US

Hi all,
I too answered as Identification division, but as Enrico says at that time i too thought like that i just as stupid question, But i found that many of my friends got asked the same question so i feel its a good question to discuss with you all ,Since different people have different opinion.
Thanks
Hari

enrico-sorichetti

Phrzby Phil · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject:

Answer: It's a stupid question.

Phrzby Phil · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:

Anatomy question:

What's more important, your heart or your lungs?

radhakrishnan82 · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 7:07 pm Post subject:

IDENTIFICATION division is a mandatory one in COBOL. Though it is meant for comment to the programmers it is an important division in COBOL.

Hope this helps!

mmwife · Super Moderator Joined: 30 May 2003 Posts: 1504

The following pgm has only 1 div coded and it produces a list of all COBOL error msgs. I guess the moral of the ques is that w/o the ID DIV all else is impossible.

BIMHO, enrico is right - it's a stupid ques for an interview. Over a few beers, maybe, .... but I'm not convinced.

***********************************************************************
Pgm to list all COBOL error messages.
***********************************************************************
Identification Division.
Program-ID. ErrMsg.
That's all that's required. Just compile it.

Douglas Wilder · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject:

I did not believe that a 2 line program would compile, but I have an open mind so I tried it. The program Jack gave compiled clean and ran clean. Return code zero on both. But I did not get a list of all COBOL error messages. I got no output. Did you actually get a list of error messages?
Was it at compile time or run time? What dd name did it come out.

Bill O'Boyle

Yes and I have have a stupid answer -

Division that doesn't divide by zero.

CICS Guy · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject:

Douglas Wilder · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject:

This proves I can even mis-type a 2 line program using cut and paste. I had the Program-ID as ErrMsgs and it did not give the list of error messages, but without the "s" it does.

Thank You.

dick scherrer

Rather pathetic on the part of the interviewer. . .

Not only did they ask a question that can only be answered by an opinion but then said the opinion was wrong. . .

My guess is that the interviewer believes they are also a psychologist and just wanted to observe the reaction to the negative response. That or they are completely absorbed by the "eye dee ten tee" condition (ID10T).

This very possibly is the most important division in cobol: