Mike Murach, Anne Prince, Raul Menendez
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By: Mike Murach & Associates
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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Languages & Tools -> Cobol
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
If you write COBOL programs (or want to), you need this book 5 out of 5 stars.
33 of 34 people found this review helpful.
Structured COBOL is a brand new addition to the excellent catalog of mainframe computer programming books published by Mike Murach and Associates. If you are programming on the IBM mainframe platform, or intend to be, this is a title you should have on your desk. Although beginning programmers are included in the target audience, the real value of this material will be as a reference for on-the-job programmers. At more than 760 pages, it covers everything you would need to research. Information is presented in an innovative format where each page of narrative is paired with a facing page containing a concise statement of COBOL syntax, suggested guidelines for the use of the COBOL feature, and one or more practical examples of the feature in code.
If you are a beginning programmer, the coverage of structured design, coding, and testing methodology is the best I have ever seen. Used as a text to learn COBOL, the language syntax is designed to be generic enough to work under any COBOL compiler. The chapters of the first section of the book are intended to be read in sequence as the information they provide each builds on the prior chapter. You will be writing COBOL code beginning in chapter 2. The remaining sections cover advanced, special-purpose features and techniques and may be read in the order that best suits the reader.
Although the COBOL coding is generic enough to be useful on any platform and compiler, the ultimate goal of the book is aimed at the IBM mainframe environment. The last section of the text covers such IBM specific topics as using ISPF and SDSF to edit, compile, and debug a COBOL program. It also includes sections on designing COBOL programs to run under CICS and to access DB2 databases.
As with all Murach books, the focus of Structured COBOL is getting real work done in the real world. All of the example code in the book can be applied directly to real world situations: dealing with pre-2000 dates in legacy programs, updating sequential files using matching record techniques, and creating and updating indexed datasets with primary only or primary plus alternate record keys. There is even a section describing how to deal with maintenance on programs written prior to the advent of structured design methods.
If you are looking for a single COBOL book for your library, take a look at Murach's Structured COBOL.
Editorial Review:
This book does something no other COBOL book does -- it teaches how to develop COBOL programs using a PC-based compiler (ideal for individuals) as well as on a mainframe (the environment where 80 per cent of all COBOL programming is done). This realistic slant and the emphasis on the structured programming methods that professionals use, make this book the ideal choice for anyone who wants to learn COBOL.
