I would say that you can't take anyone and make a COBOL programmer. But it's sure that anyone with minimal programming knowledge can understand a simple COBOL program without COBOL knowledge. I don't remember too much of COBOL, but I remember that it was very easy to understand. Maybe I'm wrong in my "souvenirs"...

Vlad

>As a side note: Jim made the point regarding its readability. One of the comments the professor who taught my class made was that it (COBOL) was developed so that they could "take winos off the streets and make them programmers"? After a wrestling with it for a quarter, I found that statement both hilarious and frightening.
>
>George