Standard ANSI COBOL Debug

The decisions of what to monitor and what information to display are explicitly in the domain of the user. The COBOL debug facility simply provides a convenient access to pertinent information.

The features of the language that support the COBOL debug module are:

• a WITH DEBUGGING MODE Switch – used at object code creation time
• an RTS switch
• a USE FOR DEBUGGING statement
• a special register – DEBUG-ITEM
• debugging lines.

The reserved word DEBUG-ITEM is the name for a special register generated automatically by your COBOL system that supports the debugging facility. Only one DEBUG-ITEM is allocated per program. The names of the subordinate data items in DEBUG-ITEM are also reserved words.