Forget what you think you may know about COBOL. Even though the language is more than 50 years old, COBOL applications still reign in the world of enterprise IT. With billions of transactions executed every day and often running behind the scenes, COBOL systems touch many aspects of our daily lives. Your mission: To start a new era of innovation powered by modern tools that bridge COBOL systems to the world of Java and .NET. Brought to you by Micro Focus (www.microfocus.com), the leader in COBOL development tools, this book is written for the COBOL, Java and .NET developer. Key features include: A simplified real-world example to illustrate key concepts; an explanation of the .NET and Java object models for the COBOL developer; an introduction to COBOL for the Java or .NET developer; a complete reference to the new syntax for Visual COBOL; and a free student development tools license integrated within Visual Studio and Eclipse. The author, Paul Kelly, has worked at Micro Focus for over twenty years. He started as a technical author before moving into software development. Paul worked on Visual COBOL for 10 years between 2002 and 2012, initially on Visual Studio development, then later on Eclipse, before changing roles again to work as an architect developing a cloud-based SaaS offering for Micro Focus.

This is a comprehensive .NET-retraining guide written for the COBOL/CICS mainframe programmer from the perspective of a former COBOL/CICS programmer.

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 a comprehensive .NET-retraining guide written for the COBOL/CICS mainframe programmer from the perspective of a former COBOL/CICS programmer.

Beginning COBOL for Programmers is a comprehensive, sophisticated tutorial and modular skills reference on the COBOL programming language for established programmers. This book is for you if you are a developer who would like to—or must—add COBOL to your repertoire. Perhaps you recognize the opportunities presented by the current COBOL skills crisis, or are working in a mission critical enterprise which retains legacy COBOL applications. Whatever your situation, Beginning COBOL for Programmers meets your needs as an established programmer moving to COBOL. Beginning COBOL for Programmers includes comprehensive coverage of ANS 85 COBOL features and techniques, including control structures, condition names, sequential and direct access files, data redefinition, string handling, decimal arithmetic, subprograms, and the report writer. The final chapter includes a substantial introduction to object-oriented COBOL. Benefiting from over one hundred example programs, you’ll receive an extensive introduction to the core and advanced features of the COBOL language and will learn to apply these through comprehensive and varied exercises. If you've inherited some legacy COBOL, you’ll be able to grasp the COBOL idioms, understand the constructs, and recognize what's happening in the code you’re working with. Today’s enterprise application developers will find that COBOL skills open new—or old—doors, and this extensive COBOL reference is the book to help you acquire and develop your COBOL skills.

Based on Enterprise COBOL 6.2 Covers vast range of topics Has 200 full examples Covers QSAM and VSAM files, DB2 and CICS Includes modern topics DLL, Language Environment Includes RECURSIVE Program Handling of JSON and XML data Communication with Java Inter language Programming with C z/OS JSON Parser XML Toolkit for z/OS JZOS Batch Launcher and Toolkit

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.