Advanced COBOL in the Real World: Enterprise Programming, Online Systems, Databases, Integration, and Modernization (Computer Programming Languages)

By: John Bailey

Advanced COBOL in the Real World

COBOL is not merely a programming language. In the enterprise, it is part of an ecosystem of transaction processors, databases, file systems, message queues, batch jobs, APIs, monitoring systems, and operational processes that may have evolved over decades.

Advanced COBOL in the Real World takes the experienced COBOL programmer beyond basic syntax and into the technologies and engineering practices that make large-scale COBOL systems work.

Beginning with modern COBOL programming techniques, the book progresses into advanced data structures, file processing, VSAM, DB2, transactions, locking, recovery, CICS, online transaction processing, JCL, MQ, APIs, and object-oriented COBOL.

It then moves beyond programming into the concerns of production engineering: Performance engineeringDebugging enterprise applicationsTesting and regression testingObservability and operationsSource control and CI/CDLegacy application modernizationEnterprise architecture
Particular attention is given to online COBOL and CICS, including transaction processing, BMS screens, pseudo-conversational programming, CICS with DB2 and VSAM, and designing applications for high transaction volumes.

The book also examines how established COBOL applications can participate in modern environments involving APIs, messaging, distributed systems, hybrid infrastructure, and contemporary development practices.

Rather than treating COBOL as an isolated programming language, this book examines the larger systems in which COBOL has historically-and continues to-play a critical role.

Whether you are an experienced COBOL programmer, returning to COBOL after years away, supporting a legacy enterprise application, or trying to understand how mainframe applications fit into modern enterprise architecture, Advanced COBOL in the Real World provides a practical path from programming language knowledge to systems-level understanding.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HL5NHK9Z
• ISBN13: 9798177182308
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 462 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"