Learning COBOL Programming: From Beginners to Experts
From Beginners to Experts
Start Reading →
42 chapters
~64 hours total
322 sections
1
Front Matter
6 chapters2
Part I: COBOL Foundations and the Mainframe World
7 chapters- Part I: COBOL Foundations and the Mainframe World
- Chapter 1: The World of COBOL -- History, Relevance, and the Mainframe Ecosystem
- Chapter 2: COBOL Program Structure -- Divisions, Sections, and Paragraphs
- Chapter 3: Data Types, Variables, and the PICTURE Clause
- Chapter 4: The WORKING-STORAGE and LOCAL-STORAGE Sections
- Chapter 5: Basic Input/Output and DISPLAY/ACCEPT Statements
- Chapter 6: Arithmetic Operations and Numeric Processing
3
Part II: Control Flow and Program Logic
5 chapters4
Part III: File Processing and Data Management
7 chapters- Part III: File Processing and Data Management
- Chapter 11: Sequential File Processing
- Chapter 12: Indexed File Processing (VSAM KSDS)
- Chapter 13: Relative File Processing and Advanced File Techniques
- Chapter 14: Sort and Merge Operations
- Chapter 15: Report Writer Module
- Chapter 16: Declaratives and Exception Handling
5
Part IV: Modular Programming and Code Organization
6 chapters6
Part V: Enterprise Data Access
6 chapters7
Part VI: Mainframe Environment and Batch Processing
7 chapters- Part VI: Mainframe Environment and Batch Processing
- Chapter 27: JCL Essentials for COBOL Programmers
- Chapter 28: Batch Processing Patterns and Design
- Chapter 29: Mainframe Utilities for COBOL Developers
- Chapter 30: z/OS Dataset Concepts and Storage Management
- Chapter 31: COBOL and the z/OS Security Model
- Chapter 32: Performance Tuning for COBOL Programs
8
Part VII: COBOL in Financial Systems
5 chapters9
Part VIII: Modern COBOL and System Evolution
5 chapters10
Part IX: Capstone Projects and Career Path
3 chapters11
Appendices
12 chapters- Appendix A: COBOL Reserved Words
- Appendix B: File Status Codes
- Appendix C: COBOL Language Quick Reference
- Appendix D: JCL Quick Reference
- Appendix E: Glossary
- Appendix F: PICTURE Clause Reference
- Appendix G: Answers to Selected Exercises
- Appendix H: Annotated Bibliography
- Appendix I: ABEND Code Reference
- Appendix J: EBCDIC and ASCII Reference
- Appendix K: Compiler Options Reference
- Appendix L: Setting Up GnuCOBOL
Explore Related Books
More open-access textbooks from our library
Advanced COBOL 40 chapters · ~67h Advanced Data Science 39 chapters · ~57h AI Ethics 39 chapters · ~82h AI Literacy 21 chapters · ~27h AI & ML for Business 40 chapters · ~80h AI Engineering 40 chapters · ~53h Algorithmic Addiction 40 chapters · ~71h American Government 40 chapters · ~77h Applied Psychology 40 chapters · ~52h Assembly Language 40 chapters · ~27h Blockchain & Crypto 40 chapters · ~68h Calculus 40 chapters · ~51h Automotive Sales 40 chapters · ~73h College Football Analytics 28 chapters · ~18h Creator Economy 41 chapters · ~57h Pattern Recognition 43 chapters · ~92h Cybersecurity 40 chapters · ~84h Digital Forensics 40 chapters · ~69h Data & Society 40 chapters · ~72h Data Viz with Python 35 chapters · ~52h Discrete Mathematics 40 chapters · ~75h Ethical Hacking 41 chapters · ~58h Fandom 44 chapters · ~70h Forensic Science 40 chapters · ~74h Grant Writing 35 chapters · ~36h History of Appalachia 42 chapters · ~69h How Humans Get Stuck 40 chapters · ~36h Handling Confrontation 40 chapters · ~80h How to Learn Anything 38 chapters · ~54h How Your House Works 40 chapters · ~66h IBM DB2 37 chapters · ~53h Insurance Underwriting 40 chapters · ~71h Intermediate COBOL 54 chapters · ~44h Intermediate Data Science 36 chapters · ~39h Intro CS Python 27 chapters · ~28h Intro to Data Science 36 chapters · ~55h Introductory Economics 40 chapters · ~28h Introductory Statistics 28 chapters · ~48h Prediction Markets 42 chapters · ~60h Linear Algebra 40 chapters · ~60h Metacognition 28 chapters · ~52h Media Literacy 41 chapters · ~80h Music Production 40 chapters · ~84h NFL Analytics 28 chapters · ~16h Nuclear Physics 35 chapters · ~60h Organic Chemistry 40 chapters · ~43h Pascal Programming 40 chapters · ~43h Photography 40 chapters · ~85h Physics of Music 48 chapters · ~75h Political Analytics 41 chapters · ~67h Popular Psychology 40 chapters · ~21h Practical Philosophy 38 chapters · ~63h Basketball Analytics 31 chapters · ~30h Soccer Analytics 30 chapters · ~43h Propaganda 40 chapters · ~80h Python for Business 40 chapters · ~40h Quantum Mechanics 40 chapters · ~66h RegTech 40 chapters · ~59h The Science of Cooking 40 chapters · ~70h Science of Seduction 45 chapters · ~60h Sports Betting 42 chapters · ~63h Database Fundamentals 40 chapters · ~34h Technical Writing 40 chapters · ~70h Architecture of Surveillance 40 chapters · ~54h Science of Luck 40 chapters · ~72h Eastern Cultures 40 chapters · ~47h Western Culture 40 chapters · ~30h Vibe Coding 42 chapters · ~58h Video Game Design 40 chapters · ~77h Why They Watch 40 chapters · ~48h Working with AI 42 chapters · ~58h