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The thing that impressed
me most was how someone with Thane Hubbell's experience could remember
all the pitfalls and conceptual hurdles that the book explains as it introduces
new topics. For example, there are the obvious problems with misplaced
periods but also less obvious beginner errors like assuming that more
than one set of WHEN statements might be executed in an EVALUATE statement.
Most of us learn those lessons, then forget that we ever learned them!
Somehow Thane
has preserved an awareness of the misconceptions students of COBOL
can encounter and guides his readers round these problems in a clear
and friendly manner.
Another good
feature of the book is that the notes, tips and pitfalls are all
clearly called out in boxes with helpful icons by the side. Consequently
an experienced programmer could skim this book, just looking for
good tips, or students can return to the book to remind themselves
of the helpful information they covered.
Every chapter
has a matching quiz and exercises, with answers on the CD, so students
can practice what they have learned. The CD also contains little
movies (Lotus ScreenCams) of the author editing, compiling and running
the examples and exercises. My one disappointment was that there
isn't (or I couldn't get) a voice-over commentary on the ScreenCams
- hearing the author would add another dimension to the book.
The latter part
of the book takes the reader into more advanced topics such as business
processes, date manipulation, and the graphical interface (using
sp2 from Flexus International).
If you're in
the market for a COBOL training book definitely check out COBOL
in 24 Hours. If you're not in the market you should still look out
for a copy and browse it for a few minutes and, if you agree with
me that Thane Hubbell has done a great job, let the editor, Tracey
Dunkelberger, know at programming@mcp.com.
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Batch:
Hidden Asset
