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Acknowledgments

Writing a book is not unlike the team effort involved in developing a complex software system. The people at Sams Publishing are consummate professionals. Their input, support, encouragement, and guidance have been invaluable. I want to especially recognize Holly Allender, Sean Dixon, Fran Hatton, and Heather Talbot.

In the COBOL community, several individuals deserve special recognition. Bob Wolfe is the individual who first piqued my interest in a book opportunity. His contacts landed me a spot on the COBOL: Unleashed team, which in turn led to this work.

I had the utmost privilege of historical perspective from an individual who was there and involved when COBOL began. Warren G. Simmons's insight and advice proved invaluable to the completion of this book.

Another individual who deserves mention is Don Nelson, current COBOL standards committee member. Don was heavily involved in the 1985 COBOL standard, and helped me greatly in areas concerning why things are the way they are, and what really is part of the present standard. For COBOL syntax, I relied on Don's excellent book, COBOL85 for Programmers.

The chapter on date manipulation was particularly interesting to write. I want to thank Judson McClendon for his assistance and advice on those issues, and on COBOL coding style in general.

Todd Yancy of Fujitsu Software Corporation assisted in securing the compiler for use with this book. The Fujitsu COBOL compiler is a strong, stable, and accurate compiler. Todd and Fujitsu have been instrumental in trying to bring the price of COBOL compilers within the reach of the average individual programmer.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my very special partner, friend, and mate—my wife, Darlene. She supported me throughout this all-consuming process. She gave up much of her time with me to allow me the time to write this book. Her contribution is personal, and lovingly appreciated.

Lest I forget from whence this talent springs, I must thank God for granting me the gift of this talent for programming, and the ability to convey it in some small measure to the reader.

About the Author

THANE HUBBELL has been programming in COBOL for 15 years. He started in computer operations and rapidly moved into programming. He has worked on a variety of platforms, from the PC up to the large MVS mainframe systems. Along the way, he has had the opportunity to develop new systems ranging in size from small, isolated programs to large, interactive, enterprise-driving systems.

He has designed and written applications ranging from a full CICS security and menuing system in COBOL to a VSAM database inquiry and reporting tool. Thane is a pilot and one of his more interesting projects was a system to translate FAA-formatted Aviation weather reports into English.

Thane makes his home in Texas and is married to a wonderful woman, Darlene, who kindly tolerates the spare time he spends programming on his computer after work. Occasionally he will even take on a custom programming project for her.

Thane can be reached via email at [email protected], and frequents the comp.lang.cobol Internet newsgroup.

Tell Us What You Think! As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what we're doing right, what we could do better, what areas you'd like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you're willing to pass our way.

As an associate publisher with Sams Publishing, I welcome your comments. You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or didn't like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books stronger.

Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic of this book, and that due to the high volume of mail I receive, I might not be able to reply to every message.

When you write, please be sure to include this book's title and author as well as your name and phone or fax number. I will carefully review your comments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book.

Email: [email protected]

Mail: Mike Stephens

Executive Editor

Sams Publishing

800 E. 96th Street

Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA

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