• Corpus ID: 5022492

Problems with COBOL--Some Empirical Evidence

@inproceedings{Volpano1981ProblemsWC,
  title={Problems with COBOL--Some Empirical Evidence},
  author={Dennis M. Volpano and Herbert E. Dunsmore},
  year={1981}
}

• D. Volpano, H. E. Dunsmore
• Published 1981
• Computer Science

This study investigated programming activity in COBOL. Attempts were made to identify problem areas so that improvemenls can be made in COBOL compilers and in the manner in which COBOL is taught. Identification of problem areas was achieved through examining program changes made by student programmers during the development of four dille rent COBOL programs. The data, which was collected from a COBOL course at Purdue University, consisted of all versions of all programs submitted for compilation by each student. Thus. the daLa represented a complete history of each subject's program development process begiruting with the initial version compiled and ending with Lhe final version submitted for grading. All program changes made between two successive versions were classified into four categories: COBOL-related, algorithmic, cosmetic and reportgeneration-related. This classification scheme indicates that a significant number of changes are related to report generation which suggests a need for support in this area. Secondly, all COBOL-related changes were delineated into 104 error categories. This delineation suggests thal there are several problem areas in COBOL. Finally, the four categories of program changes were observed with respect to various points in the program development process. Most COBOL-related changes occur before the midpoint of the program development process whereas most cosmetic changes occur late in the process.