Preface COBOL: From Micro to Mainframe is a truly comprehensive work, providing in a single source all subjects normally covered in the one-year COBOL sequence. The scope is extensive, ranging from an introduction to COBOL, to maintaining sequential files and nonsequential files. The text also shows the new directions for COBOL in a chapter about Object-Oriented COBOL and an appendix devoted to the proposed changes in the COBOL 2000 standard.
All programs in the book can be run on personal computers or with minor modifications on mainframes or other platforms. The beauty of COBOL is that it can operate on any platform. This text provides instruction in ANS XOPEN standard COBOL. The one exception is the use of Micro Focus Object-Oriented COBOL in Chapter 20, since the final ANS standard has not yet been adopted.
Improvements in the Third Edition
The third edition responds to the requests of many students and instructors to provide access to Windows-based tools while maintaining the proven approach to teaching COBOL. Features of this edition include the following:
- The text has been modified to show the development of programs in a Windows environment. While the essential characteristics of COBOL remain unchanged, the development tools have not. This edition provides examples using one of the most popular Windows development tools available: Micro Focus (r) Personal COBOL(tm) for Windows(tm).
- Chapter 19 has been added to explain the Year 2000 problem. This chapter discusses the sources of the problem, shows why it is a problem, and discusses several techniques to correct the problem. At the end of the chapter, we provide a list of World Wide Web sites where further information may be obtained.
- Another new chapter (Chapter 20) demonstrates the concepts of Object-Oriented COBOL. This new approach to COBOL promises to be a way for companies to maintain the value of their legacy COBOL programs while still being able to use the benefits of object-oriented programming.
- Appendix A provides extensive coverage of the Micro Focus Personal COBOL for Windows. In addition to explaining every menu item and button, this appendix also includes a brief tutorial allowing the student to experience process of creating a program.
- Appendix B provides a guide to installing Personal COBOL for Windows and several techniques to make using the product easier.
- Coverage of COBOL 2000 and intrinsic functions has been added in Appendix E. The 1989 extensions to COBOL 85 allow the use of predefined functions that had been missing in COBOL. This appendix also discusses the changes anticipated in COBOL 2000.
- In Appendix G, there are 32 new projects for student programming assignments. Many of these projects build on previous tasks allowing the student to experience the development of systems and the performance of maintenance.
- Various chapters have been changed to incorporate the changes in debugging and editing techniques used with a Windows programming environment as opposed to using a DOS compiler and debugger.
Benefits and Features
All of the features that have made the second edition successful have been retained and carried over into the third edition. These include:
Software and Supplements
The following software and supplements are available from Prentice Hall:
Acknowledgments We are especially grateful to our editors at Prentice Hall, Laura Steele, Alan Apt, and Marcia Horton, without whom this project would not have been possible. We also want to thank the many other individuals who helped produce the third edition. Irwin Zucker, who supervised the production, Kate Kaibni, editorial assistant, who worked hard to provide us with timely chapter reviews, and Joel Berman, our marketing manager at Prentice Hall, who developed the innovative campaign to make this book a success. We also want to acknowledge our reviewers, who through their comments and constructive criticism, made this a far better book: Robert V. Binder, Robert Binder Systems Consulting, Inc.
Dinon Boyer, University of Akron
Georgia Brown, Northern Illinois University
Jan De Lassen, Brigham Young University
Ida M. Flynn, University of Pittsburgh
Frank T. Gergelyi, NJIT
Ken Goldsmith, University of Miami
Tom Gorecki, St. Charles Community College
Carol C. Grimm, Palm Beach Community College
Monica Holmes, Central Michigan University
Ann W. Houck, Pima Community College
David Lee
James W. Payne, Kellogg Community College
Nicholas Ross, University of Illinois at Chicago
Wendell I. Pope, Utah State University
Daniel H. Rindfleisch, Computer Specialist with Federal Government
Daniel R. Rota, Robert Morris College
Richard H. Saracusa, Northeastern University
Ron Teemley, DeVry Institute of Technology
Donat Valcourt, Northeastern University
Ron Williams, McLennon Community College
Jackie Zucker, University of Miami
A final word of thanks to you, our readers, for choosing this book. Please feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions via email.
Robert Grauer
[email protected]
Carol Vazquez Villar
Arthur R. Buss
[email protected]