This document discusses the importance of computing knowledge and experience in the techniques of fast data retrieval for today's engineer. It describes a course designed to teach the engineer the COBOL Language structure. One of the projects of the course, a report generator (REGE) written in COBOL which is used to alter, sort and print selected portions of a file, is explained. The user does this by submitting a list of parameters pertinent to his/her own needs and by implementing the changes required through eight "command" parameters. Completion of the course gives the student a new dimension in computing capability. The developed program compared favorably with many RPG systems on information retrieval and report generation capabilities. Example runs are given on the eight"command" parameters as an application on the REGE program. (GA)