I generally write short programs linked together with CALL statements.
Books by Mike Murach and Associates are worth buying. Most
college texts aren't. The Open Cobol 1.1 Programmer's Guide by
Gary Cutler is an excellent reference. A book that has some
interesting examples and marks the beginnig of structured
programming in COBOL is "Modular Programming in COBOL" by Russell
M. Armstrong. ISBN 0-471-03325-1 published in 1973. I generally
write to the COBOL 85 standard. The more recent versions stray
from the original purposes of the language. And I use the
original paragraphs of the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION, including a
meanigful *REMARKS paragraph. It is the mark of a professional COBOL
programmer IMO. Its deletion from the the standard was totally foolish,
again IMO.
John Culleton
COBOL since 1968.