Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to Steve Anglin, who started the whole process of my writing this book, and to Matthew Moodie, Anamika Panchoo, Melissa Maldonado, and Massimo Nardone, the team of editors at Apress whose work was so invaluable in shaping the text. I would especially like to thank Tiffany Taylor for her excellent suggestions and for all her work in eliminating my errors. Any errors that remain are my responsibility, but without her help, there would be many more of them.
I thank my family for all their support. I thank Redmond O’Brien, who acted as a patient sounding board for ideas, and Dermot Shinners-Kennedy, for our discussions about COBOL. The results of those discussions find many a reflection in this book. Finally, I thank Annette McElligott (HOD) for her support and encouragement in this endeavor.
Thanks also are due to Bill Qualls and Caliber Data Training for granting permission to use their BigDecimal Java example program.
The following acknowledgment is from American National Standard Programming Language COBOL, X3.23-1985:
Any organization interested in reproducing the COBOL report and specifications in whole or in part, using ideas taken from this report as the basis for an instruction manual or for any other purpose is free to do so. However, all such organizations are requested to reproduce this section as part of the introduction to the document. Those using a short passage, as in a book review, are requested to mention ‘COBOL’ in acknowledgment of the source, but need not quote this entire section.
COBOL is an industry language and is not the property of any company or group of companies, or of any organization or group of organizations.
NO warranty, expressed or implied, is made by any contributor or by the COBOL Committee as to the accuracy and functioning of the programming system and language. Moreover, no responsibility is assumed by any contributor, or by the committee, in connection therewith.
Procedures have been established for the maintenance of COBOL. Inquiries concerning the procedures for proposing changes should be directed to the Executive Committee of the Conference on Data Systems Languages.
The authors and copyright holders of the copyrighted material used herein
FLOW-MATIC (Trademark of Sperry Rand Corporation), Programming far the UNIVAC (R) I and II, Data Automation Systems copyrighted 1958, 1959, by Sperry Rand Corporation: IBM Commercial Translator, Form No. F28-80l3, copyrighted 1959 by IBM: FACT, DSI 27A5260-2760, copyrighted 1960 by Min∼eapolis- Honeywell
have specifically authorized the use of this material in whole or in part, in the COBOL specifications. such authorization extends to the reproduction and use of COBOL specifications in programming manuals or similar publications.”