Mastering Cobol (Mastering)

Rating:
Summary: Mastering "Try to find something worthwhile in this book"
Review: I am a professional programmer and purchased this book to develop COBOL programs on my desktop. The book contains tons of information on COBOL, but virtually NONE on how to use the included software. There are several good pieces of software included on the cd (Crystal Reports, 2 different GUI-COBOL interfaces) but, again, very little documentation on how to use them. My advice: Buy Sams "COBOL in 24 Hours" (which includes the Fujitsu V3 COBOL compiler)and download the free COBOL compiler from the Fujitsu website. I learn quicker with the "Let's build an application" approach that Sams uses. Good luck.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I think the book offers enough info for me to not only learn the language but also refer to it at a later time, ensuring true value for money, the free compiler is free anyway from the fujitsu website, so buying it for that reason is not worthwhile, purchase it as a reference tool and as a advanced beginning tool, if you can stand the heat from the COBOL kitchen you'll find you can cook some pretty delicious COBOL delights.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for even a COBOL expert
Review: This is the best COBOL book I have ever read - clear (concepts, usages), resourceful (you can find everything you need very easily), practical (good examples). It has everything a COBOL expert may need.