Aligning Parameters on Word and Double Word Boundaries

COBOL places no restrictions on the alignment of the addresses of data items, whereas in languages such as C and assembler, it is normal for numeric items to be aligned on word or double-word boundaries.

Make sure that you correctly align any numeric parameters that are not level-01 data items in the COBOL program, or that are in a parameter block passed as a single item.

To align numeric items, you can:

• Modify group items to include additional filler items.
• Use the ALIGN Compiler directive with a parameter that is a multiple of four. This aligns all level-01 and level-77 data items on double word boundaries. The Compiler uses ALIGN"8" by default.
• Use the SYNCHRONIZED clause in conjunction with the IBM COMP Compiler directive.