IBM COBOL Basics

Overview

COBOL is a programming language that serves a wide range of businesses. Key aspects of COBOL are that it is scalable, mature, and self-documenting. In the Basics course you will learn about COBOL from its birth and through its evolution. You will have some basic lessons on handling numbers, symbols, editing, procedures, and the overall program structure. You'll even have the opportunity to create code of your own. Buckle up and join us on a ride through the world of COBOL, we can't wait to see you in class.

Syllabus

Introduction to COBOL

Welcome to your first module in IBM COBOL Basics! This module will take the beginning steps in learning and using COBOL. As we navigate through, you will learn about the birth of COBOL, the purpose of COBOL, and who uses COBOL. We will then move to learning about the divisions of COBOL, its structure, and the purpose of the compiler.

COBOL Components, Numbers, Data Types

Congratulations on making it through your first module! In this module, we’ll work on records of fixed and variable sizes, COBOL hierarchy, and clauses, wrapping up with some hands-on COBOL coding.

Structure and Syntax

In this module we are going to get right to work and learn about scope terminators and how they’re used. Learn to code the Initialize statement and its purpose. Utilize I/O statements, move statements, use return-code, and compile and link simple programs.

Arithmetic and Beautiful Numbers

Welcome to module four! Congratulations on making it to our final module of the course! In this module we learn the arithmetic behind COBOL, use of symbols and why they’re important for enhanced pictures, and perform data editing with numbers.