CSIS 20 COBOL
Programming: Spring 2009
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Catalog
Description:
An introductory course in the language COBOL.
Suggested for students interested in business and commercial data processing.
Structured COBOL statements, COBOL syntax, modular program planning techniques,
and business data processing applications from initial job application phase
through programming and testing will be studied. The student has the
opportunity for extensive programming experience on the college computer. This
course has the option of a letter grade or pass/no pass.
Transferable: UC, CSU.
End
of catalog description.
Immediately,
AFTER YOU SIGN UP for this class send me e-mail, so I can send you
instructions.
Instructor: Dennie Van Tassel Phone:
782-0863 (use e-mail). E-mail:
dvantassel @ gavilan.edu
Assignment sheet: If you sign up for the
class and tell me, I can e-mail you the assignment sheet for the class so you
can start early, but I will not send you the assignment sheet until you
sign up for the class.
Campus web address: http://www.gavilan.edu
The
web site is good place to look for a wide variety of information, such as
college catalog, course description, phone numbers, etc.
Class Hours: Evening or weekend - also hybrid, which means you are
also do it as an online course.
Office Hours: 1.0 hour before class when
this class is meeting. The lab is available for you to work during that time.
There are computers available at all 3 sites that you can use for doing
homework.
Instructor class
description:
This
class is a beginning COBOL programming class. You should be able to learn
programming. The class requires several hours of work each week out side of
class.
Student Responsibilities: If you are taking the lecture version come to class. Read the text. You need
spend several hours EVERY week on this class. If you disappear AND stop
working on this class, I may drop you.
Here are a couple other
books that come with the Fujitsu COBOL, which might interest you. The
books are very cheap if you buy them from www.amazon.com
and it looks like they come with a CD that has a COBOL compiler on them
Thane Hubbell's book, Teach
Yourself COBOL in 24 Hours. It's a great book and priced very reasonably,
but even better, it includes a CD which contains the Fujitsu COBOL compiler.
The ISBN number of Thane's book is 0-672-31453-3.
This book is out of print,
but it is available from www.amazon.com,
but it got good reviews. Make sure you get the Fujitsu COBOL compiler with your
copy COBOL: From Micro to Mainframe: Fujitsu Version (3rd Edition) by
Robert T. Grauer, Carol Vasquez Villar, et al, Prentice Hall; 3rd edition
(December 22, 1999) ISBN: 0-130-85849-8.
The book is available for
very cheap from http://www.amazon.com or
http://www.half.com. You need the textbook
the first day of the course, so if you plan to order it using the Internet, you
need to do it 2 weeks BEFORE the class
starts.
You can save yourself a lot of wasted time and learn
a lot more if you read the textbook. Read
the first 2 chapters of the book the first week.
Obtaining a COBOL compiler
I think you can get the compiler here:
http://www.adtools.com/student/index.htm
The Resources section of this course has a section
on Software that gives you more information about obtain a BASIC compiler. If
you come to class and bring a flash drive or disk, I can help you download the
free QBasic compiler.
This is a class for beginners, but you will need
some basic skills in text editing and operating system use such as opening and
saving files. You can probably learn most of the windows basics in the class.
You do not need a computer at home to do this class,
but you can do homework outside class on other computers. You can do your work
at home on a Macintosh or PC, but this lab can not read disks that are
formatted for a Macintosh. You can use the campus PCs after or before class.
Attend class: Do not get behind in the
class. The class is accumulative. What you learn this week will be used to do
the work next week. If you miss classes you will soon be lost. You need to do homework EACH week.
Course Learning Outcomes
The
student will create, execute, and test COBOL programs using calculations and
decision statements. The student will create, execute, and test COBOL programs
using loops, arrays, and pointers. The student will create, execute, and test
COBOL programs using functions. The student will create, execute, and test
COBOL programs using standard input/output, character I/O and file I/O. The
student will evaluate and select the best programming method to solve problems.
Grading: This course has Credit/No Credit
Option. You will normally get a grade in the class, but if you fill out a
Credit/No Credit petition before 1/3 of the class has passed, you can take the
class for credit/no credit. Petitions are available at the office or registrar.
Please tell me if you do request a Credit/No Credit Option. In order to get a
Credit, you need to earn at least a C grade.
If you want or need a good grade because you want to
transfer to a 4-year school, are on academic probation, want a scholarship, or
just want good grades do the work
for a good grade. Don’t bother telling me you need a good grade the last week
if you have not done the work for a good grade.
Incompletes: I seldom give incompletes
and never give them just because you have not done the work. Almost no one ever
finishes an Incomplete. Occasionally, people that have been doing the class
work have severe family or personal problems and I do give them an Incomplete.
Drops: If you stop attending class,
you must fill out a class drop form or you will get an F grade in the class.
This does not do you, me, or the school any good. So if you stop taking the
class, drop it at the A&R
office.
Special needs: If you have special needs
such as hearing problem, visual problems, or other needs, please tell me after class
and I will try to assist you.
After all that, this is a fun class. You will learn
a lot that will help you in your other classes and help you obtain useful job
skills.
I am interested in suggestions about assignments,
lectures, material covered.
We are very interested in suggestions for new
classes. If you have any classes you would like Gavilan College to consider,
give you suggestion to the instructor.
If you are having trouble using the computer for
this class, you may want to take CSIS 124 Windows Fundamentals and CSIS 126
Word Processing. Both classes would help you gain the knowledge that we assume
you have prior to taking this class.
If you are having trouble doing the math needed to
solve the problems in the programming exercises, then you should take Math 205,
Elementary Algebra. We have noticed that one common reason students do not
succeed in programming classes is the lack of math skills need to write
programming algorithms.
Thank you for taking the class and I hope the class
is fun and useful.
Next classes: If you want to continue
with your programming training, I suggest you take either CSIS 45 C++
Programming or CSIS 44 C# Programming or CSIS 51 Visual Basic Programming.
Address of this page:
http://hhh.gavilan.edu/dvantassel/csis20/csis20.html
Please feel free to send us your comments and questions.
Send e-mail messages to Dennie Van
Tassel at dvantassel @ gavilan.edu
Last revised on June 1, 2008.