How to teach structured COBOL to beginners

Abstract

Since all programming should be taught according to a structured approach and since COBOL is the most widely-used programming language, it is important to find good ways to teach a structured form of COBOL to beginning students in data processing. It is argued that COBOL, although not ideal for structured programming, is considerably better than sometimes thought. A possible course outline is presented, and three illustrative programs demonstrate the pedagogical and programming feasability of the approach suggested.