No comments about Vs Cobol II for Cobol Programmers (J Ranade Ibm Series).

2 comments about CICS: A How-To for COBOL Programmers.

1. The book is kind of chatty & includes lots of Kirk's philosophy of programming. Might be ok for a beginner who's never used any other communications software. Being familiar with other online programming software (IMS, ADS/O), I found the information on CICS to be so smothered in useless verbage that it was difficult to read.



2. This book is ideal for COBOL programmers facing the chance of working on their first CICS project. Many obscure points of CICS are explained in a readable fashion, making the book an excellent training aid.

5 comments about Structured Cobol Programming: For the Year 2000 and Beyond, 9th Edition.

1. identification division environment division select claus



2. If you enjoy COBOL enough, maybe you'll really try to sit down with this book. I had to use this book for a COBOL college class and, boy, was it not that great. The book is very verbose, like COBOL itself.

   I recommend not purchasing this book and instead getting a different book on COBOL. On the other hand, if you truly love COBOL then maybe this is the book for you. All I know is that I did not learn anything from this book except how to ruin a perfectly good afternoon.




3. I use this COBOL book for my class that I have at College, and I have worked through it and I know no more than I did when I strated. I feel strongly that this book is not a good source to learn COBOL, and is not user freindly.



4. I ALSO HAVE TO USE THIS BOOK FOR MY CLASS AND I'VE HAVENT EVEN GOT PAST CHAPTER 1. I GET LOST IN WHAT EVER POINT THE AUTHOR IS TRYING TO MAKE WHY DO THEY HAVE TO MAKE THINGS SO COMPLICATED.



5. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
   PROGRAM-ID. COBOL SUCKS.
   ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
   INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
   FILE_CONTROL. SELECT I-H8-COBOL ASSIGN TO DISK1.
   
   DATA DIVISION.
   FILE SELECTION.
   FD I-H8-COBOL
   01 SORE-FINGERS-REC
   >>>>>05 DO-I-ACTUALLY-HAVE PICTURE X(10)
   >>>>>05 TO--TYPE--ALL-THIS PICTURE X(10)
   >>>>>05 YES-YOU-DO PICTURE X(10)
   
   WORKING-STORAGE-SECTION.
   01 BLEEDING-FROM-EYES PICTURE X VALUE 'Y'
   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
   100-MAIN-MODULE.
   >>>>>OPEN INPUT I-H8-COBOL
   >>>>>PERFORM UNTIL BLEEDING-FROM-EYES = 'N'
   >>>>>>READ I-H8-COBOL
   >>>>>>>AT END
   >>>>>>>>>MOVE 'N' TO BLEEDING-FROM-EYES
   >>>>>>>NOT AT END
   >>>>>>>>>** YOUR EYES ARE STILL BLEEDING **
   >>>>>>END-READ
   >>>>>END PERFORM
   >>>>CLOSE I-H8-COBOL
   STOP RUN. **THANK GOODNESS**

1 comments about Small Java How to Program and CD Version One Package (6th Edition) (How to Program Series).

1. This book is very good for someone who needs examples and explanations of sample code. I found this book very easy to read. I will use this book as a supplement in my class. It provides a different way of explaining material that would sometimes be confusing. I like that this book breaks down every line of code and explains it to the novice programmer.

3 comments about COBOL Programming Interview Questions: COBOL Job Interview Review Guide.

1. Then you should consider this book. This is not a comprehensive
   COBOL programming manual - which you should purchase.
   
   Rather, this is a book to help you pick up a job in COBOL. If you
   are interested in finding out the most important aspects of COBOL,
   and how to best prepare yourself for a job interview in a hurry -
   then save yourself some time and purchase this book.
   
   If you need a programming reference, then this is not the book for you.
   
   This book helps you save time if you are preparing for a job.
   and that is the purpose of this book.



2. I don't see any other books that pay this close attention to a very important job market: Legacy systems. Specifically, COBOL.
   
   Considering that all of the baby boomers who wrote this code and deployed original systems are eithre retiring for good -- or coming out of retirement to work as contract programmers, I think that this
   book is the right book at the right time.
   
   It includes information on programming theory like "What does passing by content mean?"
   
   and also practical COBOL-specific issues like "What guidelines should be followed to write a structured COBOL program?"
   
   In any case, I think that COBOL is an often overlooked market, and
   anyone that wants a secure job should consider learning COBOL.
   
   This is not a comprehensive programming guide, however - this book
   will help you land the job.



3. Who paid the first two reviewers of this book? This book has so many problems.... where do I start?
   1) Nothing new is presented in this book. All the questions and answers came from web sites. You can search the web and get the same information. The author does not even make an effort to organize the data or edit the data for accuracy.
   2) Some of the answers are wrong. For example, question 87 claims that you can not move a COMP-3 field to an edited field.... so untrue!
   3) Some of the questions are repeated. In some cases a slightly different answer is given and in other cases the same answer is given. There are NOT 150 unique questions, just 150 questions. Also, as mentioned above, the same questions are not grouped together, but they are scattered throughout the book. This makes it hard to compare the slightly different answers. The back cover claims there are OVER 150 questions and answers. I guess the key word there is AND. There are 150 questions and 150 answers, which is a total of 300 questions and answers!
   4) The index in the back of the book gives the wrong pages. If you think you've seen a question before and look in the index to find it, you'll be lead to the page two pages before the true page. At least the error is consistent!
   5) Some of the questions are too theoretical.... in other words, not very applicable for an interview and not important if you are learning COBOL. Again, the author failed to add value by picking the best questions.

No comments about Assembler for Cobol Programmers Mvs, Vm (J Ranade Ibm Series).

No comments about Visible Analyst Standard Edition 7.5.

5 comments about Java(tm) for S/390® and AS/400® COBOL Programmers.

1. Instead of calling it "Java for Dummies" they decided to be nice to us old-timers and call it "Java for...Cobol programmers", but that's OK. Prepare yourself for a thick heavy meal that must be digested very slowly. Not a stone left unturned, very, very meticulous. There is a lot of exhaustive material so you will need a lot of time to go through this. Measure it not in weeks but perhaps in a few good months. But it will push you a good way up the path that many of us must take, for those of us who will not accept that there is more behind us than ahead of us. Go for it - and good luck to us all!



2. Instead of calling it "Java for Dummies" they decided to be nice to us old-timers and call it "Java for...Cobol programmers", but that's OK. Prepare yourself for a thick heavy meal that must be digested very slowly. Not a stone left unturned, very, very meticulous. There is a lot of exhaustive material so you will need a lot of time to go through this. Measure it not in weeks but perhaps in a few good months. But it will push you a good way up the path that many of us must take, for those of us who will not accept that there is more behind us than ahead of us. Go for it - and good luck to us all!



3. This is a great book for programmer from the procedural world trying to lear Java. There is lot of comparison to Cobol code. The examples are detailed and more real world much unlike the examples found in other Java books. Chapter 9 on Object orientation is gem.



4. the book should focus on Java on AS400.
   also it uses Visual Age which is outdated should use Websphere instead.

   the code is not clear since it tries to compare COBOL(structure programing) with Java(Object Oriented).




5. the book should focus on Java on AS400.
   also it uses Visual Age which is outdated should use Websphere instead.
   the code is not clear since it tries to compare COBOL(structure programing) with Java(Object Oriented

1 comments about Comprehensive Structured COBOL.

1. It seems to me (after using this book for two semesters to teach COBOL) that it is too "dumbed down" to be of much use at the college level. Perhaps it would work better for an introductory course, but we don't consider COBOL to be an introductory language.

5 comments about COBOL: From Micro to Mainframe (3rd Edition).

1. If I were already a seasoned programmer, or had some type of backgound in the languages, this book would have been a good refresher. That not being the case I felt like i just gave my college bookstore my hard earned $80. This text lacks focus and never goes in depth with any specific topic. The tutorial gives you little instruction when creating a program for the first time. And being that most student who are beginner programmers learn by example, this book is a pathetic excuse for killing a tree. The chapters may not have been so bad if there were more detailed focus points as well as "understandable" exercises after each chapter. Books like these are a student's worst nightmare.



2. This book is a great resource for the beginning or intermediate Cobol programmer. Very clear explanations and abundant examples aid understanding. The authors favor a "hands on" approach which encourages the reader to try out the concepts in each chapter. The example code is included on the CD (along with the input files for the exercises) which is a great timesaver.

   The authors are careful about pointing out differences between Cobol-85 and Cobol-74 as they arise. While this may seem to be a minor point with the advent of the latest Cobol standard, it is helpful to those who work with older systems that are not fully Cobol-85 compliant.

   The Fujitsu Cobol environment comes along with the book. The Fujitsu compiler is a big improvement over the DOS-based compiler and editor that came with the second edition. An appendix provides some step-by-step examples to help the reader get up to speed with the compiler.

   The book is weighted more towards micro computers - if you are working in a mainframe environment, you will probably want to find additional references on JCL, CICS, etc.

   The book may not be the best choice for someone who has no previous programming experience, but for readers who have some background in programming (in any language) and are interested in learning Cobol, this book & compiler set is the best resource I've seen for Cobol at this level. I strongly recommend it.




3. book was in really good condition received in 7-8days



4. Bad, this was a horrible book for cobol. Dose not give you enough information say on doing a date vaildation check. it wasn't very good. of course it didn't help that the professor wasn't that great either. (lol) any ways i didn't like it. it didn't really help me.



5. I was not impressed with the book. To begin with, COBOL does not really exist anymore and finding support is near impossible. The book dropped the reader into the material as if the person had background knowledge of programming. I was so confused throughout the text. It was bad enough that my professor was frustrated and called off the programming assignments and we turned in written work (discussion type questions). If you possess a background in programming, then this book maybe for you. If you are a beginner, RUN!