
Summary of changes
This section lists the major changes that have been made
to this document since Enterprise COBOL V6.2. The changes that are
described in this information have an associated cross-reference for
your convenience. The latest technical changes are
marked within >| and |< in the HTML version, or marked by vertical
bars (|) in the left margin in the PDF version.

Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs installed
- PI90571:
ZONEDATA
: TheZONEDATA
option is updated to affect the behaviour ofMOVE
statements, comparisons, and computations forUSAGE DISPLAY
orPACKED-DECIMAL
data items that could contain invalid digits, an invalid sign code, or invalid zone bits. (ZONEDATA) - PH05855:
INITIAL
: The newINITIAL
compiler option allows you to get a program that has initial values in data items each time the program is called, without having to add theIS INITIAL
clause to thePROGRAM-ID
paragraph, and without having to use dynamicCALL
andCANCEL
statements. (Using IS INITIAL on the PROGRAM-ID statement or INITIAL compiler option)

Version 6 Release 2
Architecture exploitation
A new higher level of ARCH(12) is accepted. The new hardware feature, vector packed decimal instructions, is introduced. For more details, see Architecture exploitation.
Enhanced functionality
Changes
in IBM® Enterprise COBOL for z/OS®, Version 6 Release 2 in
the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide contains
a complete list of new and changed functions in Enterprise COBOL V6.2.
Some highlights are:

- Support for parsing JSON using the new JSON PARSE statement
- Support for conditional compilation using the new IF, EVALUATE, and DEFINE directives
- Support for controlling the inlining of PERFORM statements using the new INLINE directive (only available in V6.2) and option (also available in V6.1 with service PTFs)
- Support for detecting invalid numeric data using the new NUMCHECK option (also available in V6.1 with service PTFs)
- Support for detecting corruption beyond the end of working storage caused by mismatched parameter blocks using the new PARMCHECK option (also available in V6.1 with service PTFs)

V6.2 continues to support all
of the new features introduced in V5 and V6.1.
