Skip to content
Vinony
English
EnglishFrançaisРусскийالعربيةفارسیहिन्दीไทย한국어
Q131140

File:COBOL_Report_Apr60.djvu · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ131140· pop 80· linked from 1,178 articles

Q131140

Sign in to save

Also known as Common Business-Oriented Language

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language; ) is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. Many large financial institutions were developing new systems in the language as late as 2006, but most programming in COBOL today is purely to maintain exis

AI overview

COBOL is an English-like programming language created specifically for business applications that remains widely used today, particularly on mainframe computers for financial and administrative systems. It matters because many critical business and government systems still rely on COBOL code, making the maintenance and updating of these programs an important ongoing concern.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Programming language.dialects
COBOL/2, DEC COBOL-10, DEC PDP-11 COBOL, DEC PDP-11 COBOL-85, DEC VAX COBOL, DOSVS COBOL, Envyr ICOBOL, Fujitsu COBOL, Hitachi COBOL2002, HP3000 COBOL/II, IBM COBOL SAA, IBM COBOL/400, IBM COBOL/II, IBM Enterprise COBOL, IBM ILE COBOL, IBM OS/VS COBOL, ICL COBOL (VME), Micro Focus ACUCOBOL-GT, Micro Focus COBOL-IT, Micro Focus RM/COBOL, Micro Focus Visual COBOL, Microsoft COBOL, Raincode COBOL, Realia COBOL, Ryan McFarland RM/COBOL, Ryan McFarland RM/COBOL-85, Tandem (NonStop) COBOL, Tandem (NonStop) SCOBOL, UNIVAC COBOL, Unisys MCP COBOL74, Unisys MCP COBOL85, X/Open COBOL, Veryant isCOBOL, Wang VS COBOL, WATBOL
Programming language.influenced by
Initial: AIMACO, COMTRAN, FACT, FLOW-MATIC COBOL 2002: C++, Eiffel, Smalltalk
Programming language.influenced
CobolScript,<!--
Programming language.access date
23 November 2014 --> PL/B
Programming language.file_ext
.cbl, .cob, .cpy
Programming language.wikibooks
COBOL
Programming language.name
COBOL
Programming language.logo
200px-->
Programming language.logo caption
The COBOL 60 report to CODASYL (April 1960)
Programming language.paradigm
Procedural, imperative, object-oriented, generic
Programming language.designers
, , , , , , with indirect influence from
Programming language.developers
CODASYL, ANSI, ISO/IEC
Programming language.latest release version
ISO/IEC 1989:2023
Programming language.latest release date
2023
Programming language.typing
Weak, static
Programming language.implementations
,

via Wikipedia infobox

Described at

TAPoR

tapor.ca →

Link to a page describing this subject · 814 chars · not written by Vinony

~66 min read

Encyclopedic overview

49 sections
Contents
  • History and specification
  • Background
  • COBOL 60
  • COBOL-61 to COBOL-65
  • COBOL-68
  • COBOL-74
  • COBOL-85
  • COBOL 2002 and object-oriented COBOL
  • COBOL 2014
  • COBOL 2023
  • Legacy
  • Y2K
  • Modernization efforts
  • Features
  • Syntax
  • Metalanguage
  • Code format
  • Identification division
  • Object-oriented programming
  • Environment division
  • Files
  • Data division
  • Aggregated data
  • Other data levels
  • Data types
  • PICTURE clause
  • USAGE clause
  • Report writer
  • Procedure division
  • Procedures
  • Statements
  • Control flow
  • I/O
  • Data manipulation
  • Scope termination
  • Self-modifying code
  • Hello, world
  • Reception
  • Lack of structure
  • Compatibility issues
  • Verbose syntax
  • Concerns about the design process
  • Influences on other languages
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • Citations
  • Sources
  • External links

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language; ) is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. Many large financial institutions were developing new systems in the language as late as 2006, but most programming in COBOL today is purely to maintain existing applications. Programs are being moved to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages, or replaced with other software.

COBOL's design was started in 1959 by CODASYL and was partly based on the programming language FLOW-MATIC, designed by Grace Hopper. It was created as part of a US Department of Defense effort to create a portable programming language for data processing. It was originally seen as a stopgap, but the Defense Department promptly pressured computer manufacturers to provide it, resulting in its widespread adoption. It was standardized in 1968 and has been revised five times. Expansions include support for structured and object-oriented programming. The current standard is ISO/IEC&nbsp;1989:2023.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q131140” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (9)

Available in 76 languages

Show 57 more

via Wikidata sitelinks · CC0