Choose the correct definition of a numeric field.

[SuperRa]

Hi,

The interviewer wrote this on paper

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05 WS-VARIABLE1 PIC S9(05)V99.

and

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05 WS-VARIABLE2 PIC +99999.99.

and said that I want to move +12345.67 in any of these variables. I have two choices, one I want to use the variable in the program. May be I shall use the variable for calculation and I may not. For other choice, I want to and display it I want to use the variable in the program. May be I shall use the variable for calculation and I may not but at the end of the program I want to display the variable in this choice.

Which one of the above is the correct way to define for this?

[Robert Sample]

WS-VARIABLE1 is a numeric variable and can be used as such in COBOL. WS-VARIABLE2 is a numeric edited variable -- which is NOT a numeric variable -- and COBOL limits what you can do with it. Numeric edited variables are used most often to display data (in a report, often).

[William Collins]

To get directly-human-readable (non-programmer) output and do calculation, you could do with using both.

A numeric-edited field cannot be used in calculations, but is the best way to represent output.

A numeric field can be used in calculation, but, especially when signed and having decimal places, is not easy for a non-technical person to understand.