595	 Guides to Teaching COBOL	 The teaching of COBOL can be divided into three main subject areas. They are the syntax of COBOL the use of such syntax in solving any given problem and programming concepts. It is generally accepted that some knowledge of the hardware and computer logic must be possessed by the programmer. The teaching problem arises in determining how thoroughly a student must know the hardware and logic for that computer for which he will write COBOL programs. Unfortunately historical data concerning students programming proficiency is almost non-existent and at best difficult to measure. How then might we approach solving this problem
