Joe,
although it is medium old, I would suggest looking at/for:
"Object Orientation for Cobol Programming"
by Ray Obin. See:
http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=1569280053&mode=direct
I couldn't find where to buy new copies, but you might want to check with
Micro
Focus to see if they have "old" copies for sale.
This book uses "traditional" COBOL thinking to explain OO concepts.
--
Bill Klein
wmklein <at> ix.netcom.com
"Joe Zitzelberger" <zberger@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:zberger-C6D5FC.01023211042008@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I've recently found myself tasked with teaching a few dozen IBM
> mainframe COBOL programmers the concepts of object oriented programming.
> No specific language syntax, just the concepts. These lucky few dinos
> will find themselves mixing their COBOL back-ends with standard Java
> apps, J2EE apps, C# apps, or Ruby apps.
>
> My specific goal is not to teach any language specific thing (though I
> might use Java for the examples and kill the J2SE, J2EE and C# syntax
> with a single invocation of the stone.throw() method). My purpose is to
> teach the simple "what is an object", "what is inheritance", "what is an
> interface", "what is encapsulation", et al, so that they have the proper
> frame of mind to accept the language specific training that will be
> offered.
>
> I was hoping that some of you that have COBOL experience AND Object
> Oriented experience might share your thoughts on what was helpful in the
> learning process. Of course, that includes what was not helpful as
> well. We often learn more from our mistakes than our successes.
>
> For example: I've ruled out the traditional "shape" example to explain
> polymorphism -- you know, the one where you have a "shape" base class
> with a virtual "draw()" method -- and a "square", "triangle" and
> "circle" subclass. I ruled it out because some practicing COBOL
> programmers (for decades even) have never put a graphic onto a screen,
> only text.
>
> (So my simple example went from "shapes" to the "animal" class with the
> speak() method -- you know the dog subclass says "bark" and the pig
> subclass says "oink" and the sheep subclass says "baa means no".)
>
> But I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences going from
> COBOL to any OO style of programming. What were your pitfalls, what was
> helpful, etc.
>
> One thing I would really love is if you have good textbook
> recommendations. If "The Idiots Guide to OO for Cobol Dummies" was the
> best thing since sliced bread, please let me know, I might go buy a few
> cases and make the author a slightly happier person.
>
> Thanks in advance to all who respond. Either via newsgroup or to
> zberger at knology.net. I really appreciate your thoughts.
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe Zitzelberger
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