Differences between Interactive COBOL 3.xx         (3.60) 19-Jun-2006
and Interactive COBOL 2.xx


1.  There is a new .cx file revision for ICOBOL 3.  All COBOL programs
    must be recompiled.  Old .cx cannot be converted to new .cx files.
    Old .cx files cannot be executed.

2.  ICOBOL 3 has added many new reserved words for the ICOBOL and
    ICOBOL85 dialects.  Variables with these names must be renamed.

3.  The ICOBOL 2 compiler allowed a FROM and a USING clause in the
    SCREEN section and generated code as if it was a FROM and a TO
    clause.  This case is now an error.  It must be re-coded.

4.  Items with USAGE INDEX require 4-bytes of storage.  In ICOBOL 2
    these items required only 2-bytes.  If USAGE INDEX items have been
    included in data files, these files will have to be reorganized to
    allow for 4 rather than 2 bytes for each USAGE INDEX item.

5.  For ICOBOL 2 users, the COMPUTE statement no longer truncates
    immediate results so results in COMPUTE statements should
    be more accurate as required by the standard.

6.  ICOBOL 3 handles parameters to builtins differently than
    ICOBOL 2.  Programs should have exception handling for
    builtin calls to detect errors.

7.  Size error conditions for COMP-5 data items are based on the
    allocated storage rather than the number of digits in the item's
    picture.

8.  The ICOBOL 3 compiler will enforce not allowing an OPEN INPUT
    on a file with an ASSIGN TO PRINTER.

    (This option was useful for checking for file existence.)

    A workaround is to have a duplicate file descriptor as
    an ASSIGN TO KEYBOARD with the same record, name, file status
    etc. and use it in the OPEN INPUT.

9.  When doing an increment to a number that overflowed and no
    size condition was set, ICOBOL 2 would internally generate the
    size condition and not do the store (leaving the value unchanged).
    ICOBOL 3 will not check the size condition and will store the
    truncated value.

    Code should be changed to detect the size condition and do a
    CONTINUE, i.e., ON SIZE CONTINUE.

10. In ICOBOL 3, screens do not support embedded control codes
    for positioning as in ICOBOL 2.  Use variable line and
    column phrases.



End of Differences