BT05 - COBOL Programming Workshop - 5 Days

DateLocationDurationCostEnrolEnquiry
2025-10-06Virtual5 Days £1800.00 (plus VAT)
Enquire

Course Description

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 course contains many 'hands on' exercises, whereby the delegate writes many COBOL programs which contain the full set of COBOL verbs. It is recommended for IT professionals who need to learn how to develop COBOL programs.

Unlike many other training companies who choose to run 2 separate COBOL training courses (e.g. COBOL Programming Part 1 - Foundation Level and COBOL Programming Part 2 - Advanced Level) our COBOL courses include full coverage of COBOL syntax (other than the SORT command which is rarely used). The course also includes KSDS VSAM file access (if required).

COBOL, COBOL2 and Enterprise COBOL syntax is included.

As an alternative to this course, we also offer a 3 day COBOL Overview (course code BT25) and a 10 day option (intended for new starters) which additionally covers TSO, ISPF and JCL (course code BT35).

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.

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

Environment

Development will be performed using:

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

Customisation

For on-site courses (i.e. at your premises), we are more than happy to tailor the course agenda to suit your exact requirements. In many cases, we are able to build your in-house standards and naming conventions into the delivered course.

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 88xxs

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

XML PROCESSING (z/OS Mainframe courses only)
XML Files
The XML Generate Command
XML Generation Example
The XML Parse Command
Processing XML Events
Parsing Exceptions
XML Parsing Example

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.

Course Enquiry