William Paterson University of New Jersey
Department of Computer Science

College of Science and Health

Course Outline

 

1.         TITLE OF COURSE AND COURSE NUMBER: CS253 COBOL I     Credits: Three

 

2.         DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE:

 

Introduction to the COBOL language with applications to commercial problems. Topics in business information processing such as payroll and inventory management, are examined.

 

3.         COURSE PREREQUISITES: None

 

4.         COURSE OJECTIVES:

 

To provide fundamental programming concepts and introduce structured COBOL processing for applying the concepts. \

 

To introduce issues and problems related to business information processing.

 

5.         STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

 

            Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

 

a) Understand the basic concepts of programming.

b) Utilize COBOL to program business applications.

c) Utilize tables in a business application.

d) Utilize Sort.

e) Utilize sequential and index files.

d) Identify the main events and people in the history of COBOL.

e) Describe each Division of a COBOL program and its purpose.

 

Through classroom participation and discussions and various homework, papers and projects, the course also reinforces the following students learning outcomes of the university:

 

a) Demonstrate ability to think critically. Measure: exams, surveys, and projects.

b) Locate and use information.  Projects will require information from the library or

    Internet.

d) Demonstrate ability to integrate knowledge and ideas in a coherent and meaningful

    manner. Measure: exams, surveys, and projects.

6.         TOPICAL OUTLINE OF THE COURSE CONTENT:

 

                Topic 1:    Introduction

                                a) what is programming?

                                b) business application area

                                c) why COBOL?

                                d) history of COBOL

                Topic 2: Methodology for Program Development

                Topic 3: Sections of a COBOL program

                                a) Identification, Environment, and Data Divisions

                                b) Procedure Division

                                c) Declarations

                                d) Arithmetics

                                e) Data Conversions

                                f) Loops

                Topic 4: Debugging

                Topic 5: Editing and Coding Standards

                Topic 6: Data Validation

                Topic 7: Screen I-O

                Topic 8: Tables

                                a) Declaration

                                b) Lookups

                                c) Multilevel

                Topic 9: Sorting

                Topic 10: Control Breaks

                Topic 11: Subprograms

                Topic 12: Sequential Files

                Topic 13: Indexed Files

                Topic 14: Object-Oriented COBOL Programming.

 

7.         GUIDELINES/SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING METHODS AND STUDENT    LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

 

a) Classroom lectures and discussions.

b) Active learning exercises involving reading and understanding COBOL programs.

c) Pre-examination reviews

 

8.         GUIDELINES/SUGGESTIONS FOR METHODS OF STUDENT ASSESSMENT  (STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES):

 

a) Periodic exams and a comprehensive final exam.

b) Programming assignments implemented in COBOL.

 

9.         SUGGESTED READINGS, TEXTS, OBJECTS OF STUDY:

 

            COBOL: From Micro to Mainframe, 3 ed., edition, Robert T. Grauer, Carol

Vazquez Villar, Arthur R. Buss, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-790817-2, paper, 1999.

 

 

10.       BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SUPPORTIVE TEXTS AND OTHER MATERIALS:

 

                Introduction to COBOL: A Guide to Modular Structured Programming, David M.

                Collopy, Ohio University, ISBN 0-13-909060-6, paper, 2000.

 

                Advanced COBOL for Structured and Object-Oriented Programming, 3rdEdition,

                Gary DeWard Brown, 0-471-31481-1, paper, 1998.

 

                Standard Object-Oriented Cobol, Ned Chapin, McGraw-Hill, 0-471-12974-7, paper,

                1996.

 

    An Introduction to Object COBOL, E. Reed Doke / Bill C. Hardgrave, McGraw-Hill,

    0-471-18346-6, paper, 1997.

 

                COBOL Programmer's Notebook, Jim Keogh, Prentice Hall, ISBN: 0139774149,

                paper, 1998.

 

11.       PREPARER'S NAME AND DATE:

 

12.       ORIGINAL DEPARTMENTAL APPROVAL DATE: Spring, 1996

 

13.       REVISORS' NAME AND DATE: E. Hu, Fall 2000.  Fall 2004.

 

14:       DEPARTMENTAL REVISION APPROVAL DATE:  Fall 2004.