Introduction to COBOL: History and evolution of COBOL. Basic COBOL syntax and structure. The four divisions of a COBOL program: Identification, Environment, Data, and Procedure. Understanding the structure of a COBOL program: divisions, sections, paragraphs, sentences, and statements.

Data Handling: Data types and variables in COBOL. Working with data storage and memory allocation. Data editing and formatting. String manipulation operations. Data manipulation using MOVE, arithmetic operations (ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE), and other COBOL verbs. File handling operations: reading, writing, and processing data from files.

Program Control: COBOL control structures: sequence, selection (IF-THEN-ELSE), and iteration (PERFORM, GO TO). Conditional testing and logic. Program flow control using PERFORM statements and other verbs.

File Handling: Different types of files (sequential, indexed, etc.) and their characteristics. File organization and access methods. Reading, writing, and updating data in files. Error handling related to file operations.

Program Design and Structure: Structured programming principles in COBOL, Modular design and program decomposition, and Using copybooks and other techniques for code reusability.

esting and Debugging: Testing methodologies in COBOL, Debugging techniques for identifying and resolving errors, Using debugging tools and techniques, and Compiling and running COBOL programs.

Advanced Topics (depending on the course level): COBOL web services interface. Database handling with COBOL (e.g., DB2). Integration of COBOL with other technologies.