What are some good resources for getting started with COBOL programming?

Question

I'm thinking about learning COBOL. Where should I start?

Just to note: Microfocus have a COBOL.Net which integrates COBOL with the .Net libraries. — rbrayb, Feb 03 '09 at 21:35
Fujitsu also has a .NET COBOL compiler that does not have runtime licensing restrictions. — tonyriddle, Feb 09 '09 at 15:46

rbrayb · Accepted Answer · 2009-02-03T21:38:58.553

14

I started with this excellent tutorial.

There is an open-source COBOL compiler called OpenCOBOL which you could use to work through the exercises.

And a COBOL Portal.

edited Feb 03 '09 at 21:38

answered Feb 03 '09 at 21:27

rbrayb

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 08 '13 at 16:33

2

Please refer to the book "Structured COBOL Programming, Second Edition" by Shelly Cashman Foremam. I studied this book and it is really helpful.

edited Feb 08 '13 at 16:33

Ben McCormick

answered Aug 04 '09 at 08:35

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 03 '09 at 21:31

2

I did Cobol during the Y2K time, Cobol was the easy part, the nightmare was JCL or Job Control Language to run your Cobol programs, what a disaster!

I really, really would like to know why you even are thinking of learning Cobol

answered Feb 03 '09 at 21:31

SQLMenace

1

I won't tell you why I am thinking of learning COBOL, but I will tell you I knew I would get some good answers by asking. – joeforker Feb 04 '09 at 02:02
1

I can answer that for myself: I'm seriously looking into learning cobol because some really big companies are paying the best salaries to cobol programmers, the systems behind these companies won't change anytime soon and the demand for more cobol programmers is growing not shrinking... at least here im my area. – Jonathan DS Nov 23 '12 at 23:44

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 08 '12 at 13:37

0

answered Jun 08 '12 at 13:37

arun88kumar

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 03 '09 at 21:53

0

IBM i5/OS Information Center link:

I know very little about this language so I can't tell you how much of the language information is IBM-specific.

answered Feb 03 '09 at 21:53

twblamer

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

There are also:

and

Also, the Murach books are supposed to be very good.

6 Answers6