Fixing a Bug in a COBOL Program

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Fixing a Bug in a COBOL Program


Bug Overview

A COBOL program responsible for calculating and displaying a Total Price for customer orders contained a bug. The calculation logic was incorrect, causing the Total Price to display a value of 0.00 under certain conditions. This article documents the problem, the root cause, and the implemented fix.


Original Buggy Code

The bug was traced to a missing initialization of the TOTAL-PRICE field and an incorrect placement of the computation logic.


01 ORDER-DETAILS.
    05 QUANTITY      PIC 9(3).
    05 UNIT-PRICE    PIC 9(5)V99.
    05 TOTAL-PRICE   PIC 9(7)V99.

 ...

DISPLAY "Order Information".
DISPLAY "Quantity    : " QUANTITY.
DISPLAY "Unit Price  : " UNIT-PRICE.
DISPLAY "Total Price : " TOTAL-PRICE.


Problem:

  • TOTAL-PRICE was displayed without being computed.
  • No computation logic was included to multiply QUANTITY by UNIT-PRICE.


Fixed Code

1. Data Division:

The data structure remains unchanged.


2. Corrected Logic:

Added a COMPUTE statement to ensure the TOTAL-PRICE is properly calculated before being displayed.


COMPUTE TOTAL-PRICE = QUANTITY * UNIT-PRICE.

DISPLAY "Order Information".
DISPLAY "Quantity    : " QUANTITY.
DISPLAY "Unit Price  : " UNIT-PRICE.
DISPLAY "Total Price : " TOTAL-PRICE.


3. Initialization Fix:

Ensured all fields were initialized correctly at the start of the program.


MOVE ZERO TO QUANTITY UNIT-PRICE TOTAL-PRICE.


Testing and Validation

The program was tested with multiple scenarios:

  • Orders with zero quantity.
  • Orders with valid quantities and prices.
  • Boundary cases, such as maximum allowable quantities.


In all cases, the TOTAL-PRICE displayed the correct calculated value.


Business Impact

Fixing this bug ensures accurate order information, reducing the risk of billing errors. It enhances system reliability and user confidence, directly impacting customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.



Image:  StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

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