Computer Fundamentals Multiple Choice Questions on “COBOL Basics”.
1. COBOL stands for _________
a) Common Business Oriented Language
b) Common Business Object Language
c) Common Beneficial Oriented Language
d) Common Beneficial Object Language
Answer: a
Clarification: COBOL stands for Common Business Oriented Language. It is designed for business purpose. It is fast and relatively simple to learn.
2. COBOL is a language that keeps evolving.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Clarification: The statement is true. COBOL has billions of lines of existing code with more added each year. It thus keeps updating itself.
3. Which of the following is not a part of the program division in COBOL?
a) Identification
b) Environment
c) Procedure
d) Compilation
Answer: d
Clarification: COBOL has 4 basic parts in the division section: Identification, Environment, data and procedure. Each program is organized like a book.
4. Which of the following is not a part of the Identification division?
a) Paragraphs
b) Entries
c) Phrases
d) Clauses
Answer: c
Clarification: The order of identification division is:
Paragraphs
Entries
Clauses.
5. D in COBOL stands for _________
a) Data
b) Draft
c) Debugger
d) Debugging lines
Answer: d
Clarification: It stands for debugging lines. Compiler fills in with the sequence numbers. There are certain coding rules that must be followed in COBOL.
6. Comment in COBOL is denoted by ________
a) *
b) /
c) //
d) ;
Answer: a
Clarification: Comment is denoted by asterisk. (*) It denotes the comment line. Hyphen – denotes continuation.
7. The data division is used to ________
a) Declare program id
b) Declare variables
c) File control
d) Input-Output section
Answer: b
Clarification: The data division is used to declare and create variables and constant fields. There are 3 basic data types in COBOL.
8. Which is not a data type in COBOL?
a) numeric
b) alphanumeric
c) alphabetic
d) float
Answer: d
Clarification: There is no data type called as float in COBOL. It has only 3 basic data types: numeric, alphabetic and alphanumeric. Variables are created in the data division.
9. What does S denote in a picture clause?
a) A symbol
b) A character
c) A sign
d) Alphanumeric sign
Answer: b
Clarification: It denotes a sign in a picture clause. Picture clause values usually use 9, X, V, S, A.
10. _____________ denotes the format in which data is stored in memory.
a) kind
b) attach
c) select
d) usage
Answer: d
Clarification: Usage denotes the format in which data is stored in the memory. Normally the phrase usage is omitted in COBOL.