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Advanced cobol
Furtheryour COBOL knowledge Advanced COBOL by A S Philippakis and Leonard J Kazmier. Published by McGraw Hill Book Company. X18.95. Although the title of this book is Advanced COBOL, the format is well suited as a course text for students with very little prior knowledge of COBOL, taking them from the language basics through program testing and file handling. The book begins with concepts of program structure, cohesion and design and in each case gives a number of alternatives depending on what the programmer is hoping to achieve. Each function is well introduced and the reasons for using it are clearly explained. The following five chapters are concerned with introducing the VariOUS Syntax elements of COBOL from the very basic ones to complex conditional statements. In these chapters the programmer is assumed to know only the basic syntax and this knowledge is built on to an advanced
level. A good example of this is the chapter on conditional statements where the material begins with handling true false conditions and introducing and finishes by demonstrating the use of the complex conditions ‘AND’ ‘OR’ and ‘NOT’. Throughout this chapter there are ample flowcharts illustrating the use of these statements. Chapter 11 deals with program testing, examining the various methods and comparing the ‘bottom up’ approach with the ‘top down’ approach. Two useful features are the testing procedures and the common errors sections which are of practical help to new programmers. The remaining chapters concentrate on data and file handling covering the Report Writer feature and sorting and merging. The sections on Indexed Sequential files and Relative files provide an introduction although further instruction would be required for a complete novice.
There are several references to IBM features in this book, for example, internal data representation and VSAM files, with very few examples of other manufacturers’ features, which could be confusing to someone learning in a non-IBM environment. When dealing with the different file handling methods there should possibly be some reference to database handling because this is now as much a part of a COBOL programmer’s life as program testing. The good features about this book are the frequent revision sections and comprehensive exercises at the end of each chapter. There are plenty of examples which will be helpful to programmers tackling a complex problem for the first time. This book will serve as a useful reference for a student having completed a COBOL programming course. W. GWILLAM National Computing
Centre
Buying a small system I983 Guide toSmall Business Computers and Word Processing Systems. Published by Computer Guides Ltd. 226~~. &24. This guide is intended primarily for small businesses, e.g. solicitors or retailers, who have no previous experience of computers or word processors, but would like to introduce one into their businesses. The guide explains what the two are, and how to go about deciding what a particular user will need. This includes explanations of workload measurement, requirement specifica-
~0125 no 1 january/february
1983
tion and the agreement of contracts. The book is split into two sections, dealing separately for the most part, with word processors and small computers. For each the guide starts from basics, and leads the potential user through the steps of acquiring a system. There are profiles of 25 of each of leading UK minicomputer, microcomputer and word processor suppliers. On the computer side, the book covers specification of requirements, workload measurement, short-listing,
software package assessment, demonstrations, selection and contracts. Two case studies on each of mini and micro selection complete the computer section of the guide. On word processing there are sections on consultants, bureaux, consumable suppliers and WI’ training and recruitment. One chapter is devoted to WP software and its suppliers. Four case studies, two on two on solicitor systems and accountancy systems are included here.
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level. A good example of this is the chapter on conditional statements where the material begins with handling true false conditions and introducing and finishes by demonstrating the use of the complex conditions ‘AND’ ‘OR’ and ‘NOT’. Throughout this chapter there are ample flowcharts illustrating the use of these statements. Chapter 11 deals with program testing, examining the various methods and comparing the ‘bottom up’ approach with the ‘top down’ approach. Two useful features are the testing procedures and the common errors sections which are of practical help to new programmers. The remaining chapters concentrate on data and file handling covering the Report Writer feature and sorting and merging. The sections on Indexed Sequential files and Relative files provide an introduction although further instruction would be required for a complete novice.
There are several references to IBM features in this book, for example, internal data representation and VSAM files, with very few examples of other manufacturers’ features, which could be confusing to someone learning in a non-IBM environment. When dealing with the different file handling methods there should possibly be some reference to database handling because this is now as much a part of a COBOL programmer’s life as program testing. The good features about this book are the frequent revision sections and comprehensive exercises at the end of each chapter. There are plenty of examples which will be helpful to programmers tackling a complex problem for the first time. This book will serve as a useful reference for a student having completed a COBOL programming course. W. GWILLAM National Computing
Centre
Buying a small system I983 Guide toSmall Business Computers and Word Processing Systems. Published by Computer Guides Ltd. 226~~. &24. This guide is intended primarily for small businesses, e.g. solicitors or retailers, who have no previous experience of computers or word processors, but would like to introduce one into their businesses. The guide explains what the two are, and how to go about deciding what a particular user will need. This includes explanations of workload measurement, requirement specifica-
~0125 no 1 january/february
1983
tion and the agreement of contracts. The book is split into two sections, dealing separately for the most part, with word processors and small computers. For each the guide starts from basics, and leads the potential user through the steps of acquiring a system. There are profiles of 25 of each of leading UK minicomputer, microcomputer and word processor suppliers. On the computer side, the book covers specification of requirements, workload measurement, short-listing,
software package assessment, demonstrations, selection and contracts. Two case studies on each of mini and micro selection complete the computer section of the guide. On word processing there are sections on consultants, bureaux, consumable suppliers and WI’ training and recruitment. One chapter is devoted to WP software and its suppliers. Four case studies, two on two on solicitor systems and accountancy systems are included here.
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