COBOL Programmer's Notebook

COBOL is making a comeback! There's a shortage of COBOL programmers to maintain millions of business-critical COBOL applications -- and to fix critical Y2K bugs. This easy-to-use tutorial/reference is perfect for programmers who want to refresh their COBOL skills -- or learn new ones. COBOL Programmer's Notebook's unique dual-page format places code examples on the right, with annotations and explanations on the left -- perfect for programmers who say "Show me the code and help me figure out the rest." Best-selling author Jim Keogh walks through every important element of COBOL programming, including working with the editor, compiler and linker; variables, constants, operators and expressions; arrays; program control; data structures; data input; I/O; indexed files, printed output and functions. There's a full chapter dedicated specifically to identifying and fixing Y2K problems.

Table of Contents:
1. Working with the Editor, Compiler, and Linker. Dissecting a Simple COBOL Program. Editors. Naming Files. Compiler Errors. COBOL Areas. COBOL Organization. Identification Division. Environment Division Configuration Section. Environment Division Input-Output Section. Environment Division Input-Output Section I-O Control Paragraph. Data Division. Data Division Linkage Section. Procedure Division. Words to Avoid Using. 2. Working with Constants and Variables. Constants and Variables. Naming Variables. Defining Variables. Assigning Values to Variables. Displaying the Value of Variables. Using a Variable as a Constant. Dealing with Alphanumeric Variables. Initializing Variables. Initializing Variables with Zeros and Spaces. Truncation. Decimal Variables. Displaying Decimal Variables. Suppressing Zeros. Limit Variables to Alphabetic Characters. Insert a Bank into Data. Currency Data. Insert Commas into the Data. Indicate Debit or Credit. Changing the Currency Symbol. Changing the Decimal Point Symbol. Replace Leading Zeros with Asterisks. Date Data. Use Blanks Instead of Zeros. Signed Numbers. Ways to Store Data. Assign Values to Many Variables. 3. Working with Data Structures. Creating a Data Structure. Using a Data Structure. Formatting a Data Structure. A Common Mistake Using Data Structures. Nested Data Structures. RENAMES. REDEFINES. Identifying Member Variables. Creating an Array. Accessing an Array. Looping through an Array. Assigning Values to an Array from the Keyboard. Defining an Index Variable. 4. Working with Program Control. Flow Control. PERFORM. PERFORM UNTIL. PERFORM VARYING UNTIL. GO TO. GO TO DEPENDING ON. IF and IF...ELSE Statements. Nested IF Statement. Creating a Relational Expression. GREATER THAN. LESS THAN. NOT GREATER THAN. NOT LESS THAN. GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO. LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO. AND OR Operators. CLASS. EVALUATE. 5. Working with Operators and Expressions. Numeric Operators. Addition. Addition Verb. Subtraction. Subtraction Verb. Multiplication. Multiplication Verb. Division. Division Verb. Precedence. Reusing an Expression in an Array. Reusing an Expression Using the PERFORM Command. 6. Working with Data Input and Screens. ACCEPT and DISPLAY. Displaying a Menu. Reading a Selection from a Menu. Processing a Menu Selection. Handling Selection Errors. Creating a Menu Tree. Data Entry Screen. Data Display Screen. 7. Working with Other Programs. Module Programming. Calling Another Program. Passing Data to the Called Program. Passing Data Back to the Calling Program. Returning Control Back to a Calling Program. 8. Working with Files. What Is a File? What Is a Record? What Is a Field? Fixed Length and Delimited Files. What is an index? Defining a Logical File. Defining a Physical File. Opening and Closing a File. Creating a Sequential File? Writing a Record to a Sequential File. Reading a Record from a Sequential File. Rewriting a Record from a Sequential File. Looping Through a File. Creating a Relative File. Writing a Record to a Relative File. Reading a Record Sequentially from a Relative File. Reading a Record Relatively from a Relative File. Rewriting a Record to a Relative File. Deleting a Record from a Relative File. Creating an Indexed File. Adding Records to an Indexed File. Reading Records Using an Indexed File. Rewriting Records in an Indexed File. Deleting Records in an Indexed File. Using Alternative Keys. 9. Working with File Errors. SELECT OPTIONAL. Sequential I-O File Status. Relative I-O File Status. Indexed I-O File Status. Trapping the File Status. 10. Working with Sorting and Merging. Creating a Sort Definition. Sort into Another File. Changing the Order of the Sort. Upper and Lower Case Sorts. Sorting Duplicates. Sorting a File to a Procedure. Sorting a Procedure to a File. Sorting a Procedure to a Procedure. Merging Files. Changing the Order of the Merge. Upper and Lower Case Merge. Merging Duplicates. Merge a File to a Procedure. 11. Working with the Printer. Defining a Physical Printer. Preparing to Print a Record. Printing a Record. Print a Record from a Sequential File. Printing All Records in a File. Printing Records from an Indexed File. Printing Text With Fields. Creating a Report Layout. Printing Fields in Columns. Printing Report Title. Printing Column Headings. Printing Report Trailer. Determining the End of the Page. Printing Page Numbers at Top Left of Page. Printing Page Numbers at Top Right of Page. Printing Page Numbers at Bottom Left of Page. Printing Page Numbers at Bottom Right of Page. Create Multiline Text. 12. Working to Solve the Year 2000 Problem. What Is the Year 2000 Problem? DATE. The Fixed Window Method. The Sliding Window Method. Fixing the Day of The Week. Leap Year. Finding Dates. Hiding the Century Digits in the Existing Date. The Single Character Solution. The No Date Problem. Embedded Dates. Programmers Checklist. General. Keywords, Constants and Variables. Expressions and Operators. Program Control. Input-Output. Year 2000 Problem. Index.