COBOL, acronym for Common Business-Oriented Language, is a programming language that was developed in 1959 for the purpose of automating business processes. COBOL is routinely used in businesses to conduct transactions as of July 2011. According to the COBOL Center, 90 percent of all financial transactions and approximately 75 percent of all other business transactions are facilitated by COBOL. COBOL programmers are highly sought after, owing to the versatility, portability and popularity of the language, and COBOL certification equips and trains programmers in the essentials of COBOL.
Types of COBOL Certification
COBOL I (ANSI 74) and COBOL II are two primary types of COBOL certification. COBOL I trains experienced programmers in the fundamentals of COBOL. According to Phillip Harris in the book Guide to National Professional Certification Programs, topics COBOL I certification covers include COBOL Elements, Condition Checking, Data Division, Errors, Process Statements, Tables and Program Processing.
COBOL II typically proceeds the COBOL I certification and is designed for experienced COBOL programmers. It covers many of the same topics covered by COBOL I but in greater detail.
Training Companies and Colleges
Many companies and colleges offer COBOL certification programs. Training companies specializing in COBOL certification include the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP), SYS-ED and Pro-Tech Training. Washington State University, Pullman, University of Texas at El Paso, Austin Peay State University Tennessee, Dakota State University, Madison, and Chemekta Community College in Salem, Oregon, also offer COBOL training and certifications.
Skills
Essential skills COBOL certifications provide include IMS, CICS, TSO/ISPF, JCL, SAS and DB/DC. Students learn the essential techniques of structured programming; diagrams, flowcharts, visual content tables and structure charts; pseudocode preparation and interpretation; program readability and maintainability; intrinsic functions of COBOL and arithmetic statements; writing and executing COBOL programs; debugging programs; and merging different program components.
Application and Uses
COBOL programs are used in numerous business application programs. The language is based entirely on English, which makes program development follow a easily understandable sentence-like structure. COBOL is used globally in various sectors, including military and government agencies and many commercial enterprises. The language is versatile and can be used on all major operating systems, including Microsoft's Windows, IBM's z/OS, and the Unix/Linux family. Owing to the widespread popularity of COBOL, certified programmers and developers are employed by companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot Inc., Verizon Wireless, Accenture, Walmart and Northrop Grumman in various full-time, part-time and contractual jobs.
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