COBOL for the 21st Century, 10th Edition

Average customer rating:

This book is not for programmers who want to study COBOL after working with object-oriented languages.

Well designed book

got what I ordered

Worst programming book for beginners!

Absolutely Horrendous Book

COBOL for the 21st Century, 10th Edition
Nancy Stern , Robert A. Stern , and James P. Ley
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Cobol | Languages & Tools | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0471073210

Book Description

A hardy perennial!

Despite years of dire predictions, COBOL is still thriving. In fact, it's practically a perennial. New version of COBOL for PCs now enable you to use COBOL to develop interesting graphical user interfaces, create Web pages, and even incorporate components from other languages such as Visual Basic.

Now with COBOL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, 10/E, you can take advantage of these exciting new developments and learn how to become a master COBOL programmer.

Features:
* Includes new integrated coverage of interactive programming.
* Shows how to design programs that area easy to read, debug, modify, and maintain.
* Covers information processing and systems concepts that will help you interact with users and systems analysts when designing programs.
* Introduces you to programming tools such as pseudocode and hierarchy charts that make program logic more structured, modular, and top-down.
* Presents useful techniques for maintaining and modifying older "legacy" programs.
* Includes a student CD containing all data for all programming assignments as well as the full Practice Program from each chapter.

Customer Reviews:

This book is not for programmers who want to study COBOL after working with object-oriented languages........2007-01-07

I get this book at work like main manual for all our mainframe COBOL programmers. All the mainframe COBOL people in our shop are old-timers with more then 15 years experience. This book for them is like a bible. I'm object-oriented programmer working with G4 languages almost 14 years. This book for me was like 15 years ago. So I bought for my self new-days COBOL books and was able to study this language. I keep this COBOL book on my desk in case I have to communicate with current mainframe programmers. It helps me to understand what they want and explain to them various programming situations.

Well designed book.......2006-03-02

COBOL, indeed it is still very widely used today and it is here to stay for a good while, especially with COBOL 2008 coming up.

If you have no knowledge in COBOL whatsoever, this book will be your starting point.
The thing I like about this book is how they give the many variations of how you can use a certain piece of code, like the many variations of using the EVALUATE statement.

The authors is not boring. He's straight to the point and tells you on many occasions what types of mistakes to avoid because we all know how long COBOL programs can be to debug.

There is always a different example in each chapter and as the author is adding to the example, the full program is given with sample outputs and the code is available from the CD for you to also test.

On top of that, it has colors and gridlines when needed so COBOL code is quite readable.

got what I ordered.......2005-09-30

I got what I ordered on time a the specified price.

Worst programming book for beginners!.......2005-02-13

As the reader below me already said, this book is simply too technical. It assumes you know something about this language. Clearly not for beginners. As you can notice, most of the people who gave this book a positive rating are either professors or experienced programmers. None of them was a beginner when they bought the book. I had to pick this book up for one of my college classes.

The first source code example is 21 lines long (no comments). I repeat: 21 LINES. A first-program length not normally found on introductory books. And I have read a lot of introductory programming books (C++, Visual Basic, C, etc). Most of them start with the classic "Hello World" program or something similar. But thats not the case in this book.

On the next three pages the book tries to explain that code or first example, but, in my opinion, fails miserably. Lots of symbols are left unexplained; lines are mentioned but, what their purpose is, is left a mystery.

The second sample program in chapter one is a 48 lines one. This one is 6 pages away from the 21-liner. O_o
Then comes the inadequate explanation... After that, start the end of chapter programming assignements.

So I wanted to practice a little bit. Hoping to find some other sample programs to clear my confusion, I pop the included CD in my DVD-RW drive, go to My Computer and double click on the CD icon. Well to make a long story short the CD includes only chapter 4 and up level programs (This book has 17 chapters). Thus skipping all the introductory chapters. Oh well....

Its good I have a good teacher, because the book is useless.

So my advice is: Do not buy this book if you know nothing about COBOL.

Absolutely Horrendous Book.......2004-04-28

I use this book at my University or rather, it is the book used for the course, but we never once use it. Why might you ask? Because unlike all reviews before that said this book was great, this book is written so technically and to understand it, you have to already know something about Cobol. If you need help with a program and want to look it up in the book hoping it will help you, forget it. There is no way this book is of any help and it is so hard to understand. You are better off buying some other book instead of this one. Trust me.

COBOL for the 21st Century, 10th Edition

Average customer rating:

COBOL for the 21st Century, 10th Edition
Nancy Stern;Robert A. Stern;James P. Ley
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MCAI7Q

Book Description

Begins with an analysis of a typical U.S. dollar denominated Euroconvertible. Goes on to discuss international convertible securities and such related topics as currency fluctuation and foreign currency exposure. The characteristics of domestic markets in U.S., Britain, Japan, France, Australia, and Canada and their unique features and evaluation methods are examined. Finally, it looks at convertible hedging, breakeven analysis, risk profile, and rate of return.

Customer Reviews:

An in-depth explanation of a complex subject for investors.......2004-09-24

This book should be on the desk of every serious equity investor. It covers several different types of convertible securities but concentrates on convertible bonds.
Although this is not a light read, it provides an in-depth coverage of the mechanics and math of the major types of convertible bonds - U.S domestic, US and non-US dollar euroconvertible, and non-US convertible bonds. It also touches on the subjects of convertible hedging and convertible bond arbitrage.
The book is filled with examples of both convertible bonds as securities as well as the calculations used by traders and investment managers to evaluate whether a particular convertible bond is a better investment than its underlying stock and why.
Every serious equity investor, from individual investors to investment professionals, can get something from this book.
Indivdiual investors will benefit from the basic explanation of what convertible bonds are, how they work, and many of the calculations they will need to evaluate convertible bonds as an investment.
Professionals will benefit from the thorough coverage of the mechanics of convertible bonds including trading and hedging strategies and calculations (through numerous examples), as well as of international, non-US currency, and multi-currency convertible bonds.
Although convertible bond hedging and arbitage trading are activities for the securities professional, an understanding of the basic principles covered in this book will make a better investor or trader of anyone who reads it.

Book Description

Despite recent improvements in water management, approximately 1.4 billion people lack adequate water and about 3 billion people lack adequate sanitation services. It is commonly acknowledged that these and other water problems affect the poor adversely in terms of their livelihoods, their health, and their vulnerability to water-related natural disasters.

The authors of this edited volume have broad experience managing water development projects - integrated social-economic programs aimed directly at poverty reduction in different regions of the developing world. In the book's four Parts, they offer an interdisciplinary approach to many issues that contribute to the relationship between water and poverty.

Part I includes articles on the conceptual and methodological issues concerning poverty reduction through water resources development. It also offers analysis of quantitative measurements of poverty reduction, including some approaches for creating a Water Poverty Index. Part II considers the institutional frameworks for management of water and poverty reduction. Topics range from community-based decision making to international leadership. Part III encompasses discussions on participatory irrigation management and the privatization of urban water supplies and sewerage and the link to poverty. Case studies from India, Turkey, and Jordan make up Part IV. The studies present diverse water management and development practices for poverty reduction, including realistic pricing and effective irrigation practices, the use of water as an engine for sustainable development, small and large scale strategies for reducing the risks and uncertainties in water availability and food security, the economic value of improved water supplies, and the positive impact of small-scale development projects.

Evaluating water policy scenarios against the priorities of the rural poor [An article from: World Development]

Average customer rating:

Evaluating water policy scenarios against the priorities of the rural poor [An article from: World Development]
R.A. Hope
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000RR7TNC

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from World Development, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
A stated choice method evaluates how well water policy responds to the preferences of the rural poor in South Africa. Household priorities to experimental scenarios of water resource and water services attributes are investigated in two communities with poor water access in a semi-arid zone. Results identify improved water accessibility as the most important intervention for social welfare gains, particularly benefiting female water collectors. A latent class specification reveals two sub-groups with different weighted preferences; this specification reinforces the primacy of domestic water access and also identifies a smaller but significant group with preferences for water availability for kitchen garden irrigation.

Average customer rating:

Water Development & Poverty Reduction
I H Olcay Unver
Manufacturer: KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N67IU6

Book Description

An illustrated overview of perpetualmotion machines and their inventors. The deceptively simple task of making a mechanism which would turn forever has fascinated many famous men and physicists throughout the centuries. In fact, the basic tenets of engineering grew from the failures of these perpetual motion machine designers. And, despite the naivete and even the blatant trickery of many inventors, there still exist a handful of mechanisms which defy explanation: * a vast canvascovered wheel which turned by itself was erected in the Tower of London * another wheel turned endlessly in Germany and was discussed by philosophers and scientists throughout Europe, including Sir Isaac Newton

Customer Reviews:

An impressively documented history of the discovery and utilization of perpetual motion machines.......2006-04-11

Perpetual Motion: The History Of An Obsession by Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume is an impressively documented history of the discovery and utilization of perpetual motion machines. As for most scientists and inventors, perpetual motion had become the potential discovery that would enable the generation of a much greater technology, for some it had become an obsession, and still today there may remain a number of mysterious processes in which perpetual motion seems without explanation. Discover the most intriguing history of perpetual motion in Perpetual Motion which is very highly recommended to all readers especially to those students of general sciences and aspiring mechanics and invention, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in alternative science.

Perpetually readable..........2002-02-07

Best overall account of Redheffer's Perpetual Motion claim published to date.

Affectionate Look at the Pursuit of an Impossible Dream.......2001-04-29

Mr. Ord-Hume, an engineer himself, wrote this book after being entreated to aid with a television show on the subject of Perpetual Motion in Britain; he had already kept a file on perpetual motion machines as a curiosity he kept running into while studying the history of machines, and evidently was inspired by these two separate things to write an entire book on the subject. His book reads as more than a history of individual inventions and their creators than an engineering treatise, which puts not only the machines but the whole pursuit of perpetual motion into perspective; originally conceived as a way to simply save work, then as the holy grail of early engineering, and finally as a way for con men to bilk investors out of their money, the author catalogues the efforts of very interesting and often brilliant men. He explains how the machines were supposed to work, why they won't, and even occasionally gets inside the head of the inventors. He never makes fun of them however, and even credits them with inadvertantly furthering science and physics by building ever-more complex machines that won't work due to various physical principles that are discovered. Many brilliant men who could have been famous contributors to science wasted their lives and fortunes (and occasionally their sanity) pursuing the idea of free energy, no to avail. There was one exception...a clockmaker named Cox who built a perpetual clock powered by a barometer. But is it true perpetual motion? You decide.

My only quibble with the book is that his qauint style of writing does become more than a bit convoluted at times in trying to make his point, and that he does not go into enough detail at times explaining why a machine does not work, apparently assuming (and probably correctly) that the reader will not be able to follow the physics involved. However, the book is very entertaining and thought-provoking to anyone interested in mechanics. Some of the concepts are truly brilliant, especially considering how long ago they were conceived; except for the annoying fact that they wouldn't work. No matter how big a skeptic, the reader will probably find himself (or herself) doodling their very own machine on a piece of paper...and convincing themselves it could work. An esoteric and highly entertaining work for mechanics enthusiasts.

Average customer rating:
Perpetual Motion Mystery
R. A. Ford
Manufacturer: Lindsay Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Physics | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0917914538

Average customer rating:

Recommend this book - liken it to 'Da Vinci Code'

I bought this book for my boyfriend, and it blew his mind!!

What a read!!!! This is the best book ever!!!

Great book - recommended

Perpetual tangents

Perpetual Motion; An Ancient Mystery Solved?
John Collins
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

History | Subjects | Books | Africa | Americas | Ancient | Arctic & Antarctica | Asia | Australia & Oceania | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Europe | Gay & Lesbian | Historical Study | Large Print | Middle East | Military | Military Science | Russia | United States | World
ASIN: 141167636X
Release Date: 2006-02-06

Customer Reviews:

Recommend this book - liken it to 'Da Vinci Code'.......2005-10-26

Meticulous research, enjoyable read - I liken this book to the Da Vinci Code, but its real, not fiction.
I believe this author is presently writing a follow-up - can't wait!!

I bought this book for my boyfriend, and it blew his mind!!.......2005-10-20

Jimmy, my boyfriend, heard about this book, and asked me to get it for him. I did, and he really enjoyed it. He reckons that its going to replace our gas-guzzling autos. He's serious!

What a read!!!! This is the best book ever!!!.......2005-10-20

This book is awesome!!! The author has spent all of his life researching the history of Johann Bessler, AKA Orffyreus, inventor of a perpetual motion machine about 300 years ago. John Collins, the author, puts forward a convincing argument that the machine was genuine. Watch out you oil barons!!!!

Great book - recommended.......2005-10-20

Couldnt put this book down - a brilliant true scientific/historical mystery, on a par with Dan Browns 'The Da Vinci Code'
This book could solve the energy crisis!!

Perpetual tangents.......2003-07-19

The title of this book should read "I Love Orffyreus." After reading this book, and being sorely disappointed with the last chapter, I felt compelled to warn others that this highly subjective book is neither revealing, nor solving. The author offers nothing in the way of physics to make a case for his speculation on gravity, and how it might provide a loophole in the conservation of energy. It reminds me of 17th century patent filers who offered nothing but drawings and thoughts.

Amazon.com

A decade after he first explored the small-town precincts of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, Garrison Keillor makes a comical return to his roots. Not that Wobegon Boy takes place entirely within Mist County. The narrator, John Tollefson, made an early exit from his hometown and has spent the last 20 years managing a college radio station in upstate New York. Here he seems to have put a healthy distance between himself and his Wobegonian past.

For the author, John's job is a handy pulpit, allowing him to fulminate against radio, New Age affectation, and campus politicking. Keillor remains a master of the cantankerous one-liner, yet there's a romance here, too--between John and a historian named Alida Freeman. And while Keillor can't resist roping Alida into his own pan-Scandinavian schtick--she's writing a scholarly study of a 19th-century Norwegian neuropath who administered high colonics to Lincoln himself--the love story is genuinely touching and gives the novel an extra emotional ballast.

So, too, does the magnetic pull of Lake Wobegon. John keeps describing life back in Minnesota as one long exercise in sensory (and emotional) deprivation: "We were not brought up to experience pleasure, so it doesn't register with us, like writing on glass with a pencil. Dullness is our stock-in-trade, dullness honed to its keenest edge." Nonetheless, he returns twice in the course of the novel, and his sojourns among the Lutherans are the source of not only comedy but home truths.

Book Description

Keillor's follow up to Lake Wobegon Dayshas his protagonist, John Tollefson, returning years later to Minnesota for a life-changing visit. Wobegon Boy is the story of John Tollefson, last seen in Lake Wobegon Days leaving home, now a forty-something Norwegian bachelor public-radio manager living in upstate New York. Amidst his tribulations—his gloomily neurotic staff, his controlling boss, his bumpy relationship with his querulous father, his love affair with a Columbia University historian—John returns to Minnesota for a visit. There, sitting at the Sidetrack Tap and the Chatterbox Cafe—talking and listening to the people he has known his whole life—he discovers what is truly important to him.

Customer Reviews:

He'll find roots he never imagined possible........2007-02-03

Garrison Keillor's WOBEGON BOY comes from the host and announcer of the radio hit PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, now heard on public radio stations across the country, and follows a young man who lands in upstate New York to manage a public radio station at a college, achieving much success but still feeling his life is empty. His search for such meaning will lead him not back to Lake Wobegon but to the big New York City, where he'll find roots he never imagined possible.

Not his best work.......2006-11-04

While there are many flashes of the descriptive narratives we have come to enjoy from A Prairie Home Companion, this novel falls in the category of self-indulgence by the author, with long dissertations regarding things of no concern to anyone, and which utterly fail to advance the storyline. Garrison has done much better work prior to this and in my humble opinion needs to stay with what really works for him. That is, the explanation of how life is approached(or avoided)by those Scandanavians of the Lutheran persuasion living in Minnesota. THAT is real life chronicled by a master.

Meh.......2005-10-06

First, I read an essay by Garrison Keillor that mentioned something about his Wobegon books. Next, his name just became ubiquitous. So I finally picked up one of his books, one that wasn't written too long ago, yet not one that was too recent in case by then he had stopped being too original.

I liked the beginning. It seemed like it was going to be a light reading, a nice change from all the depressing books I'd been reading. After the first couple chapters, though, things seemed to go way too fast. There are too many people that come to go that I don't really remember any of them except for the really major ones that appear for longer than two pages. Maybe if I had read the previous Wobegon books, these people would be somewhat familiar, but I hadn't, so I was lost.

Some of the jokes I did get, but for the most part, again, Keillor moves way too fast that I probably missed half of them. Besides, I felt like there were more inside jokes than general ones everyone could enjoy. It made me feel left out.

Plot- and style-wise, this book isn't the best either. The transitions often feel abrupt and wonder. And the story is a bit depressing, in fact, and although it's a fast/light reading, something's just missing that it's not as fun as it could have been.

Painfully Funny and Wonderfully Nasty.......2005-08-14

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read, but under the humor is an undercurrent of anger, in the best sense of the word. Keillor has been pigeonholed as the "Prairie Home Companion guy," and his overwhelming success as a radio personality overshadows his great great writing. The sidestory of John Tollefson's involvement in a "farm restaurant" and the hippie/New Age building contractor who eventually...oh, I won't spoil the plot....is worth the price of the book. At turns laugh-out-loud funny, nasty and sentimental, I've reread this book twice for the sheer pleasure. His best novel.

Keillor at his best........2005-07-14

Warm,funny and down right brillant. Wobegon Boy is a fantastic journey into the world of modern sensibility and homespun common sense. Garrison Keillor creates a great novel that will put a huge smile on your face after you are done with it.

I can't wait to read it again.

Average customer rating:

Garrison Keillor: Wobegon Boy

Manufacturer: Easton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000COEZRI

Average customer rating:

Lake Wobegon Boy
Garrison Keillor
Manufacturer: FABER and FABER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WSGVPS

Average customer rating:

Wobegon Boy
Garrison Keillor
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ5M7S

Average customer rating:

Wobegon Boy
Garrison Keillor
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHD402

Average customer rating:

Wobegon Boy
Garrison Keillor
Manufacturer: Viking
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SGBSXY

Average customer rating:

WOBEGON BOY.
GARRISON. KEILLOR
Manufacturer: P/B
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O5L7R6

Average customer rating:

Wobegon Boy
Garrison Keillor
Manufacturer: FABER & FABER INC *
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SEYDWO

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