CSCI 2850 HOME PAGE FALL 2004

TENTATIVE SYLLABUS FOR CSCI 2850
COBOL PROGRAMMING
FALL 2004

TIME: Tuesday/Thursday 8-9:30 AM

LOCATION: Smith 303

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Fay A. Riddle

OFFICE: Smith 305

OFFICE PHONE: (706) 880-8279

OFFICE HOURS: Mon./Wed./Fri. 9:45-10:35 AM, Tues./Thurs. 11:15-11:55 AM. Available by appointment at other times.

CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION: The study of COBOL, a language used primarily in business data processing applications. Emphasis on information retrieval problems. Team project required.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: To teach COBOL syntax, programming, and programming style.

TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS: All correspondence (assignments, test information, etc.) will be via e-mail. Each student will be expected to provide an e-mail address to the instructor by the end of the first week of class. Students will be expected to check their e-mail on a daily basis. Cell phones and audible pagers must be turned off in class unless there is a prior arrangement with the instructor.

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: The Bulletin says, "A student is expected to attend all classes, including labs, for all courses for which he/she is registered. The student is solely responsible for accounting to his/her instructor for any absence. An instructor may recommend that the Academic Dean drop from class with grade of W or U any student whose absences are interfering with satisfactory performance in the course."

Each student is allowed two unexcused absences; any other absence must be excused by the instructor. I will excuse a maximum of 4 absences. Anyone with more than 7 absences (including excused and unexcused) will be penalized 6 points per absence, regardless of excuse. The instructor reserves to right to assign an F to any student with too many absences. Your daily grade is influenced by your attendance.

The student is responsible for all material covered, assignments and test dates announced, and any other announcements made on the day the student is absent. Makeup tests are not automatic; they may only be expected under unusual, documentable circumstances (and at the discretion of the instructor) and, in such a situation, normally only if arranged with the instructor in advance of the test or exam. Absence from class is not an excuse for late or no homework.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

READING ASSIGNMENTS: The instructor will assume that the student reads those sections of the text corresponding to what is covered in class, as well as any assigned readings.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: Homework will be assigned regularly and should be turned in by class time on the date specified. Five points will be deducted if submitted late on the due date. Ten points per day for the first two days of lateness will be deducted; after two days, the instructor reserves the right not to accept the assignment.

TESTS: will be three tests tentatively on Sept. 23 (changed because classes were cancelled due to hurricane), Oct. 19, and Nov. 9, and a final exam on Dec. 8 at 8:00 AM.

GRADING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES: The homework assignments will count a total of 11% of the course grade. Homework will be collaborative in nature. You may work with as many other students as you desire as long as (a) you and they indicate the collaborators’ names with the homework, (b) you do not just copy someone else’s homework, and (c) you understand what you are submitting well enough to correctly answer questions on the material on a test. If a student does well on the homework but poorly on related material on a test, the instructor reserves the right to assign a grade of zero to that homework, report the incident to the Honor Council, and suspend the collaboration policy for all students.

Each test will count 21% of the course grade, the exam 21%, and the daily grade 5%. The grading scale will be no higher than the following: 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C, 60-69 D, 0-59 F.

The daily grade will be computed as follows: 0-2 unexcused absences: 5 points; 3 unexcused absences: 3 points; 4 unexcused absences: 1 point; 5 unexcused absences: 0 points; 6-7 unexcused absences: 1 point deducted from your grade; 8-9 unexcused absences: 2 points deducted from your grade; etc.

TEXTBOOK: Structured COBOL Programming (Ninth Edition - Update Version for 2001-2002) by Stern and Stern.

COURSE OUTLINE:

1. An Introduction to Structured Program Design in COBOL.
2. The IDENTIFICATION and ENVIRONMENT DIVISIONs.
3. The Data Division.
4. Coding Complete COBOL Programs: The PROCEDURE DIVISION.
5. Designing and Debugging Batch and Interactive COBOL Programs.
6. Moving Data, Printing Information, and Displaying Output Interactively.
7. Computing in COBOL: The Arithmetic Verbs and Intrinsic Functions.
8. Decision-Making Using the IF and EVALUATE Statements.
9. Iteration: Beyond the Basic PERFORM.
10. Control Break Processing.
11. Data Validation.
12. Array Processing and Table Handling.
13. Sequential File Processing.
14. Sorting and Merging.
15. Indexed and Relative File Processing.
16. Improving Program Productivity Using the COPY, CALL, and Other Statements.
17. The Report Writer Module.
18. An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming.