Cobol for Dummies (For Dummies)

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Reviews
Amazon.com
It's a rare Dummies book that manages to appeal to experienced practitioners as well as novices. COBOL for Dummies pulls it off, explaining the intricacies of COBOL to new programmers as engagingly as it provides hints and shortcuts to seasoned COBOL programmers.

Griffith opens with exactly what beginners need: an overview of the structure of COBOL programs. This elementary information, which should be familiar to more experienced programmers, serves as the basis for deeper coverage in subsequent chapters. One section of the book explains the DATA DIVISION and all the details of how COBOL represents information in memory. Another portion explores the PROCEDURE DIVISION, telling readers how to make COBOL actually do things with data. All the important verbs--and some arcane but useful ones---are highlighted.

This book really shines in its explanation of input and output--two commonplace routines that aren't easy to do efficiently with COBOL. Griffith, an experienced COBOL contractor, has come up with good input, output, and sorting solutions that you can paste into your own programs.

The CD-ROM accompanying this book contains, among many other things, Fujitsu COBOL development tools, which were selling for $2,500 just a few months ago. Even without the text, this book represents a savings of 98.8 percent on the excellent Fujitsu software--a blue-light special of legendary proportions. If you're doing any work with COBOL, you need this book.

Book Description
COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language) is an old-timer in a world of Java and Visual Basic upstarts. But although newer languages garner all the attention, COBOL continues to be the programming workhorse for major, long-established industries, such as banking, insurance, and utilities. COBOL For Dummies is the indispensable, practical reference for anyone charged with writing, tweaking, updating, or just double-checking COBOL code. Programming expert Arthur Griffith knows COBOL inside and out and shows you, among other things, how to Y2K-proof your mainframe or minicomputer. Plus, the bonus CD-ROM accompanying COBOL For Dummies features plenty of ready-to-use source code and Fujitsu COBOL, complete and fully functional. In addition, the CD-ROM includes Demo versions of Acucobol for Windows 3.1, 95, and NT A set of COBOL interpreters from Deskware for AIX, Linux, SunOS, Solaris, and Windows 95/NT A demo version of the Micro Focus NetExpress development environment A bonus appendix that shows you how to write COBOL programs that generate reports with headers, footers, running totals, and subtotals Another bonus appendix full of diagrams to help you remember the syntax of COBOL's verbs

Synopsis
COBOL is the most widely used programming language in businesses. Here is a complete reference to COBOL, including the applications involved in the Year 2000 dilemma. The CD-ROM includes sample COBOL code and code examples for the Year 2000 solution scenarios.

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