For “portable numeric” data?
“Standard” more or less numeric data types include USAGE BINARY and USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL. These were introduced in the ’85 Standard and provide for portable source code – but NOT NECESSARILY PORTABLE STORAGE. Taking the most simple example, 05 How-Many-Bytes Pic 9(04) Packed-Decimal. may be stored as either 2 or 3 “bytes” (a concept that isn’t in the current Standard – but will be in the next one) of storage – depending on whether your compiler “requires” a sign-nibble for even unsigned packed-decimal items. The general rule is that all “meaningful” digits of a packed-decimal item take 1 nibble (half of a byte) and the sign takes another. But when the data definition does NOT include a sign (S), then some systems still require the storage and some don’t; some store an unsigned numeric field with the same sign-nibble as a positive number and some don’t. (Most common examples – Most IBM-compatible PC’s treat positive and unsigned numeric fields with a X’3′ sign-nibble – while most IBM co
