COmmon Business Oriented Language COBOL COmmon Business Oriented Language

Background It was first developed in the year 1959 by a company called Conference on Data Systems Languages or the CODASYL led by Joe Wegstein of National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology). There have been different versions of the language since its advent. COBOL was developed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense in cooperation with computer manufactures, users and universities. The initial specifications for COBOL were presented in a report of the executive committee of CODASYL committee in April of 1960.   It was designed to be a business problem oriented, machine independent and capable of continuous change and development. Since 1960, COBOL has undergone considerable updates and  improvements. It has emerged as the leading data processing language in the business world.  The standard language specification has three levels low, middle and high so that standard COBOL can be implemented on computers of varying sizes.

Description The earliest version was COBOL -60. Later versions were called COBOL -61, COBOL -65, COBOL - 68, COBOL -74, COBOL -85, and COBOL 2002. COBOL is a third-generation programming language. The COBOL 2002 includes support for object oriented programming. COBOL is used for commercial and business applications, such as data processing, etc. COBOL is similar to C++ in the way that thought they are trying to make a standard version, object oriented compilers are available too. Free compliers will not be existent in this language.

Structure COBOL programs are divided into four divisions: Identification Division: Identifies the name of the program and the programmer. Environment Division: Specification of hardware and files used. Data Division: Declaration of constants, variables, data structures, and file formats. Procedure Division: Executable source code.

Language Progression

Some characteristics that contribute to COBOL's success COBOL is self-documenting. It contains such English-like structural elements as verbs, clauses, sentences, sections and divisions. COBOL is a simple language (no pointers, no user defined functions, no user defined types) with a limited scope of function. It encourages a simple straightforward programming style. COBOL is non-proprietary (portable) The COBOL standard does not belong to any particular vendor. The vendor independent ANSI COBOL committee legislates formal, non-vendor- specific syntax and semantic language standards.

Design Goals Must look like simple English Must be easy to use, even if that means it will be less powerful Must broaden the base of computer users Must not be biased by current compiler problems

Sample Program print multiple table of 2 on screen

Sample Program get 2 value and use command add, subtract, multiply, divide

Resource http://www.legacyj.com/cobol/cobol_history.html http://e-words.us/w/COBOL.html http://csdir.org/Programming/Languages/Cobol http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/Course/COBOLIntro.htm http://www.perlphpasp.com/cobol/indexo.html http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewA rticleBasic&articleId=266156&pageNumber=1