Target Audience

The course is aimed at developers not familiar with COBOL program development. This course covers all aspects of Programming with COBOL. The course teaches the design, writing and testing of COBOL programs. Many exercises are performed by the developer to ensure that the statements taught are fully understood and practical experience is gained.

The actual duration of this course would depend upon:

•     your specific requirements
•     your previous IT experience

The 3 day version of this course uses instructor supplied programs to run through an overview of the full set of COBOL verbs. Containing a reduced number of practical 'hands-on' exercises, this course is recommended for:

•     programmers who have previously used COBOL who wish to brush up on the language
•     programmers who will not write, but maintain existing COBOL programs, requiring a high level overview of the language
•     progammers already familiar with PL/I - a similarly constructed language

The 5 day, and most popular version of this course contains many 'hands on' exercises, whereby the delegate writes many COBOL programs which contain the full set of COBOL verbs. This course is recommended for:

•     existing IT professional who wish to learn how to develop COBOL programs

The 10 day version of this course is intended for delegates new to IT, such as new graduates. It contains many 'hands on' exercises and incorporates additional time to cover program design, program editing, program testing, JCL submission, test plan creation, error checking and debugging. The delegate writes many COBOL programs which contain the full set of COBOL verbs. This course is recommended for:

•     new graduates and programmers new to the z/OS operting system

Pre-requisites

This course can run on both IBM Mainframe and PC Platforms. Our PC based course uses a Fujitsu COBOL compiler running on a Windows platform. If this course is to run on an IBM mainframe, prior knowledge of TSO/ISPF and JCL is required. This can be gained by attending course BT02.

Course Objectives

Whilst covering the basics of COBOL programming and how it is used, this course also aims to give an insight into structuring COBOL programs, COBOL verbs, manipulating data, and testing COBOL programs. On completion of this course the student will be able to:

•     Develop Structured COBOL Programs
•     Understand and Use COBOL Verbs
•     Develop COBOL programs using the available verbs
•     Develop and Test COBOL print programs
•     Develop and Test COBOL programs accessing different types of files

Course Environment

Development will be performed using:

•     IBM Mainframe
•     Off mainframe using a PC based COBOL compiler

Course Details

COBOL OVERVIEW

Introduction To Program Development

Introduction To COBOL

COBOL Language

Compilation

Input Of Source Code

COBOL Program Structure

Program Divisions

COBOL Program

MetaCOBOL Notation

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION

Identification Division

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION

Environment Division

Configuration Section

Files

Input-Output Section

DATA DIVISION

Data Division Sections

File Section

Working-Storage Section

Linkage Section

DATA DIVISION: DATA ITEMS

Data Items

Variables

Literals

Figurative Constants

Data Types

Declaring Data Items

Group and Elementary Data Items

Elementary Items

Group Data Items

Level Numbers

Picture Clauses

Compressed Format Picture Clauses

Synchronized Storage

Numeric Edited Picture Clauses

Insertion Editing

Simple Insertion

Special Insertion

Fixed Insertion

Floating Insertion

Suppression and Replacement Editing

Numeric Edited Picture Clauses

DATA DIVISION: CONDITION NAMES

Level 88's

DATA DIVISION: INITIALISATION

Initialising Variables

Filler

DATA DIVISION: TABLES

Tables

Occurs Clause

Occurs Depending

Tables with Group Items

Two-Dimensional Tables

Three-Dimensional Tables

Pre-filled Tables

Occurs Indexed By

DATA DIVISION: REDEFINITIONS

Redefinitions

COPY STATEMENT

Copy Statement Overview

Copy Statement

Copy Replacing

Copy Replacing Syntax

Copy Replacing Rules

PROCEDURE DIVISION

Procedure Division

Sections And Paragraphs

Program Termination

Procedure Division Statements

Program Structure

COBOL ITERATION

Iterations

Open and Closed Subroutines

Sections and Paragraphs

Perform and Perform Thru

Perform Scope

In-Line and Out-of-Line Performs

Perform Times

Perform Until

Perform Varying

Perform Varying After

In-Line Performs

Go To Statement

COBOL SELECTION

Overview

IF Statement

Relational Operators

Collating Sequence

Complex Conditions

Condition Names

Class Conditions

Evaluate

Continue

Next Sentence

FILE ACCESS

Files

Sequential Files

Opening Files

Closing Files

Opening and Closing Files

Read Statement

Read Into

Write Statement

Write From

Writing Reports

Carriage Control Characters

DISPLAY AND ACCEPT

Display Statement

Accept Statement

Accept New Format

MANIPULATING VARIABLES

Manipulating Variables

Move Statement

Truncation

Move Variations

Group Moves

Move Corresponding

Set Statement

Initialising Variables

ARITHMETIC STATEMENTS

Arithmetic

Rounded Option

On Size Error

Add

Subtract

Multiply

Divide

Compute

Exponentiation

Symbol Evaluation

STRING MANIPULATION

String

Unstring

Inspect

Inspect Tallying

Inspect Replacing

Inspect Tallying/Replacing

Inspect Converting

REFERENCE MODIFICATIONS & FUNCTIONS

Reference Modification / Substrings

Intrinsic Functions

String Functions

Date Functions

Miscellaneous Functions

TABLES / DATA SEARCHES

Tables

Referencing Table Elements

Referencing Multi-dimensional Tables

Indexed By Tables

Key Is Indexed By Tables

Subscript or Index

Set Statement

Searching Tables

Sequential Search - Search

Binary Search / Search All

Searching Multi-Dimensional Tables

SUBROUTINES / SUB-PROGRAMS

Subroutines / Sub-Programs

Call Statement

Call By Reference

Call By Content

Executing A Sub-program

Is Initial Clause

Cancel Statement

Static and Dynamic Call

VSAM PROCESSING (z/OS Mainframe courses only)

VSAM Files

Relative Record Files

Key Sequenced Files

File Definition / Select Statement

Opening VSAM Files

Indexed Read

Sequential Read

Write Records

Rewriting Records

Deleting Records

Positioning Within A File - Start

SORT & MERGE PROCESSING

Sort Processing

Sort Statement

Sort Procedures

Sort In/Sort Out Programs

Input Procedures

Release Statement

Input Procedure/Sort Out Programs

Output Procedures

Return Statement

Sort In/Output Procedure Programs

Input Procedure/Output Procedure Programs

Merge Processing

COBOL DEBUGGING

COBOL Debugging Lines

COBOL Debugging Trace

TEST PLANS

Test Plans And Testing

Test Plans

Test Plan Results

Course Format

Practical sessions make up a large part of the course, allowing delegates to demonstrate and reinforce the lectures given. During these sessions the delegate will gain experience of writing and testing different types of COBOL programs using the various COBOL verbs available. Examples are used extensively, ranging from simple code snippets to full applications with complete ‘real world’ functionality. These are supplied at the start of the course and it is encouraged that the delegates execute and ‘experiment’ with these under the instructor’s guidance as they are introduced. These examples are available to take away, along with the delegate’s own work. The comprehensive Student Guide supplied is fully indexed serving as a useful reference tool long after the course has finished. Delegates will also be able to access a free help-line with technical questions relating to topics covered on the course.