As the conversion of legacy systems continues, the ability to understand embedded business rules becomes more and more critical. This ability is directly related to the structure of the programs within those systems. We also see the need to teach structured programming to a new generation of programmers who must maintain the billions of lines of existing COBOL code. The ultimate purpose of this text is to discuss how to judge the level of structure of a program. We do this by defining structured programming and then discussing how a structured program can be built through the application of the concepts of coupling and cohesion. We also show how embedded business rules of the program can be separated from the data and presentation functions. The reader will be able to use to these skills to judge and to improve the structure of a new program or an existing program.

Explains COBOL as it exists in the new ANSI standard. Designed for advanced programmers, it eases the transition from general programming training to the programming done in business applications using COBOL. Through hundreds of practical examples, it explores the intricacies of COBOL without spending a lot of time on basic computer concepts. With an emphasis on cross-system application and development, it describes both IBM's VS COBOL II for the mainframe environment and Microsoft's COBOL for the personal computer.

This is for the person who wants to learn what COBOL is, what programming is, and how to use COBOL in typical business data processing applications. Assumes no previous background in programming. Hands-on programming begins in Chapter 1--each chapter is based on one or more example programs applicable to real-life business settings. Treatment is based on the concepts of structured programming--only a few logical control structures are used throughout the book. Emphasizes a clear program style for ease of reading and debugging. All programs have been tested and run, and computer output is displayed in each case.

The classic guide to programming in COBOL-updated, expanded, and even more user-friendly than before Advanced Cobol, Third Edition For many years, Gary Brown's classic guide to advanced COBOL has been the on-the-job reference of choice for experienced COBOL programmers internationally. Without compromising on any of the outstanding features that made it so successful, this Third Edition has been updated and expanded to reflect all the important new trends and applications in COBOL programming. Packed with dozens of concise examples illustrating language features, and featuring several complete programs, this indispensable working resource arms you with practical coverage of: * All essential COBOL terms, concepts, and statements * COBOL programming solutions to the Y2K problem * Full Screen terminal support, subprograms and functions, and COBOL Report Writer * Items in proposed new ANSI Standard * Object-oriented COBOL * Obsolete statements and how to work around them * COBOL for client/server and distributed computing * Cross-system development * Application programming interfaces Wiley Computer Publishing. Timely. Practical. Reliable. Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

Programming as an engineering discipline -- Basics -- Data structures and algorithms -- True object-oriented programming -- Object-oriented programming -- Databases -- Graphical user interfaces -- COBOL to OOP in practice.

This is the latest edition of our classic COBOL book that has set the standard for structured design and coding since the mid-1970s. So if you want to learn how to write COBOL programs the way they're written in the best enterprise COBOL shops, this is the book for you. And when you're done learning from this book, it becomes the best reference you'll ever find for use on the job. Throughout the book, you will learn how to use COBOL on IBM mainframes because that's where 90% or more of all COBOL is running. But to work on a mainframe, you need to know more than just the COBOL language. That's why this book also shows you: how to use the ISPF editor for entering programs; how to use TSO/E and JCL to compile and test programs; how to use the AMS utility to work with VSAM files; how to use CICS for developing interactive COBOL programs; how to use DB2 for developing COBOL programs that handle database data; how to maintain legacy programs. If you want to learn COBOL for other platforms, this book will get you off to a good start because COBOL is a standard language. In fact, all of the COBOL that's presented in this book will also run on any other platform that has a COBOL compiler. Remember, though, that billions of lines of mainframe COBOL are currently in use, and those programs will keep programmers busy for many years to come.