Structured ANS COBOL: A 2-Part Course in 1974 and 1985 COBOL

A few extras I forgot to note in my original review.One page 123, where the book starts to talk about 88 level data items (Condition Names), it's time to go find a different reference. Any other reference. This book botches the explanation. I had trouble with it, the friend I mentioned had trouble with it (and I did not warn him about it in advance). It's the only major problem with the book.This book has not been revised since initial publication, and contains no information on the 1989 Addendum to the COBOL Standard (which is mostly Intrinsic Functions), and no information looking at the upcoming release of the new COBOL Standard.

Working on my own, with no access to manuals, I'm able to find anything I need to modify or write COBOL programs. Suggest the reader buy Part 2 of this 2-book set, and also VS-COBOL-II. The latter isn't a complete COBOL manual, but lists the differences between COBOL and COBOL-II.

This book does a good job of explaining COBOL, but concentrates on a format best suited to those who don't know mainframes (introducing TSO, ISPF, dataset concepts, computer concepts, etc.). The complete set of COBOL commands is not taught. Instead, the author concentrates on the most often used commands and techniques. The author takes time out to mention obselete and/or "bad" commands (goto, alter, perform-thru, etc.), and stresses why avoiding them is good, and why using them is bad. I found that, as a beginning COBOL programmer, this approach of avoiding the entire command set to be quite useful. Because the author takes time out to explain most things, I was able to readily absorb the language. The main drawback is that in the last third of the book, some of the extensive explanations go away, and readers are left to figure out certain concepts on their own. The other drawback is more minor. This book is copyright 84 or 85 (I don't have it on my desk, it's out on loan to another programmer, who thinks it's good, too), and has a somewhat dated "air". In the end, I feel this book was worth the money I spent on it.