COBOL for Dummies [Paperback]

Arthur Griffith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764502980 | ISBN-13: 978-0764502989 | Publication Date: October 30, 1997 | Edition: First Edition

COBOL—the language of business data processing -- has been used for accounting systems, inventory control, database maintenance, payroll systems, and many other applications. With the help of COBOL For Dummies, you'll read and understand existing COBOL programs as well as write programs of your own. This book contains everything you need to know to store and retrieve data in files, perform calculations necessary for business operations, and organize and format data for presentation on paper and on the computer screen.

Inside, find helpful advice on how to

• Choose the right solutions for the year 2000 problem
• Use simple, step-by-step processes for defining different types of file organizations and accesses
• Create PICTURE clauses to store and format data in ways that make the most sense for your applications
• Explore the data tables that you can build inside a COBOL program to model real-world events and situations
• Set up sorting procedures capable of handling millions of records

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

About the Author

Arthur Griffith was first exposed to COBOL in 1975. Although he has worked in a number of programming languages over the years, a COBOL project still comes up from time to time. In the early 1980s, he became a compiler writer and was involved in the implementation of several computer language compilers and interpreters. This led to the implementation of a COBOL compiler on a mini-computer and the creation of a special SQL-like preprocessor to extend COBOL to database accesses. pl?idgbook:0-7645-3084-4:book-idg::uidg323">Java Master Reference.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; First Edition edition (October 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764502980
• ISBN-13: 978-0764502989
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #596,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just for the Beginner, April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: COBOL for Dummies (Paperback)

If you never had any experience with COBOL, this book is the place to start. Although it doesn't give many full programs for you to see, it does help you understand the way the language works. As I said, this is a great book to start learning COBOL, and you can then go on to the other books to get deeper into the language. The only problem I encountered was the Fujitsu compiler is an expired version. I've been using COBOL since 1982 and this book is on my shelf.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but be real, April 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: COBOL for Dummies (Paperback)

This book is well worth buying for those needing an introduction to COBOL. If you are getting it to get the Fujitsu compiler, be aware that it is the previous version and that it is available for free download from the Fujitsu web site.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A COBOL "returnee" review..., March 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: COBOL for Dummies (Paperback)

As a former programmer in COBOL (along with other languages), and a physician writing his own patient information tracking software, I decided to return to COBOL for it's simple, yet powerful file handling capabilities. Not wanting to spend several hundreds or thousands of dollars for a compiler (or - gasp! - an interpreter), I performed a quick search of the Web and found a reference to "COBOL For DUMMIES". Had it not been for the enclosed CD, I probably would have passed this book by without giving it a second thought. However, having read the book and worked with the CD, I am convinced that this is absolutely the best programming deal around. The coverage of COBOL is not intensive enough for someone who wants to make the language dance and sing, but it's complete enough (and covers the history and arcane aspects of the language well) for the programmer who has forgotten how elegant COBOL can be, especially after working with numerous other languages.