Data Structures: Qualified, LIKEDS, and Nested

A data structure groups related fields of different types under one name. This lesson covers qualified data structures and dot notation, LIKEDS for reusing a layout, TEMPLATE for structures that exist only to be copied, nested data structures, and arrays of data structures.

What you'll be able to do

1. 1Declare a qualified data structure with DCL-DS and QUALIFIED, and reference its subfields using dot notation.
2. 2Use LIKEDS to declare a structure that copies another's layout, and TEMPLATE to declare a structure that exists only to be copied.
3. 3Build a nested data structure and reference a nested subfield correctly.
4. 4Declare an array of a qualified data structure with DIM, and explain how it closes the weakness of parallel arrays.
5. 5Read a multi-level data structure declaration and identify which fields belong to which level.