THE IDENTIFICATION DIVISION

The general syntax for this division is as follows :

       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. pgm-name.
       [AUTHOR. comment-enrty.]
       [INSTALLATION. comment entry.]
       [DATE-WRITTEN. comment-enrty.]
       [DATE-COMPILED. comment-enrty.]
       [SECURITY. comment-entry.]

Please note the full-stop characters. They are used both at the end of statements and at the end of item identifiers. The [ .. ] þndicate optional items. You need not type the items between these braces. If you use the DATE-COMPILED item, the compiler automatically inserts the date on which the compilation is done. A sample IDENTIFICATION DIVISION would look like :

       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. My First Program.
       AUTHOR. CAN UGUR AYFER.
       INSTALLATION. You can throw this away once you see it works.
       SECURITY. COSMIC TOP SECRET.

That's all with the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. I told you; COBOL is easy...

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