4. Table management

It was already easy to use tables before the 74 standard was introduced, but the new standard introduced new functions that are fundamental to their management. A table is an ordered group of data composed of simple elements, all with identical attributes. Each element in the table is designated by an index number, in the form ELEMENT (index ). The index can be used as an integer, for example ELEMENT (5) to designate the fifth element of a table. The subscript can also be used as a Data-Name, e.g. SALARY (SCALE), with SCALE taking integer values only. Since COBOL allows up to three indices for a table, in the most general case we can write ELEMENT (index-1, index-2, index-3 ). Since 1974, COBOL has offered the possibility of replacing indices by indexes playing practically the same role, but implicitly reserved by COBOL when the table is declared.