Re: [open-cobol-list] Best online and text tutorials?

[Brian Tiffin]

I was impressed with John's response, but I find 

http://www.csis.ul.ie/COBOL/

to be a good place to visit for the basics. Michael Coughlan has produced a 
nice online course.  And with OpenCOBOL 1.1, on my Debian/Lenny, the only 
thing you'll need to change to get most of the examples to compile is

$ SET SOURCEFORMAT"FREE"

becomes

>>SOURCE FORMAT IS FREE

or delete the line and use the -free switch.

After that, http://www.simotime.com/indexcbl.htm  is an awesome place to see 
very professional grade source code and complex examples.  Again, with OC 1.1 
most of the bundles compile and run with little change (if any) required.  
(Personal use mind ... Simotime has done the world a huge favour, so no fair 
making any money, or saving a company any, without kicking it back to those 
that deserve it).

For text books, I troll the local library / community centre coffeeshop 
bookstore.  They have a freebie box, and it is usually chock full of 
technical reference manuals.  I couldn't believe the other day when an 
original APL/360 yellow was in the box.  I keep trying to donate a buck or 
two but the lady just keeps saying "We have so many reference books - 
take 'em take 'em - please".  Someday I might even ask to get a glimpse of 
this pile she speaks of, as I'm sure they have some of the math texts I covet 
and an assortment of out of print COBOL books and other rarities.  But for 
now, it's like a weekly treasure hunt.  :)  (Greenboro Community Centre here 
in Ottawa, by the way).

Cheers,
Brian Tiffin

On August 8, 2008 01:11:29 pm Fast Primes wrote:
> What are the best online and/or textbooks on PC based cobol? Enough to
> quickly do a "Hello World" program under Ubuntu or Vista?
>
> Thanks.
>
> FP