Computer science > Software Development >
Cobol

Last updated on Friday, April 26, 2024.

Definition:

The audio version of this document is provided by www.studio-coohorte.fr. The Studio Coohorte gives you access to the best audio synthesis on the market in a sleek and powerful interface. If you'd like, you can learn more and test their advanced text-to-speech service yourself.

COBOL, which stands for Common Business-Oriented Language, is a high-level programming language primarily used for business and administrative applications. It was one of the first widely used programming languages and is still in use in legacy systems today. COBOL is known for its readability and is often used for processing vast amounts of data in industries such as finance, government, and healthcare.

The Concept of COBOL in Computer Science

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) is a high-level programming language primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. It was one of the first widely-used high-level programming languages, designed in 1959 by a group of computer professionals. Despite being over 60 years old, COBOL is still in use today in many legacy systems.

Key Features of COBOL:

1. English-like syntax: COBOL was designed to be easily read and understood by non-programmers, with a syntax resembling the English language.

2. Data manipulation: COBOL provides powerful tools for handling large volumes of data, making it ideal for business applications.

3. Structured programming: Although older versions of COBOL lacked modern programming features, newer versions have incorporated structured programming techniques.

Importance of COBOL:

Despite its age, COBOL is still widely used in legacy systems that have been in place for decades. Many financial institutions, government agencies, and large corporations rely on COBOL to run their business-critical applications. Due to the massive amount of code written in COBOL, there is a constant demand for COBOL programmers to maintain and update these systems.

Criticisms of COBOL:

One of the main criticisms of COBOL is its verbosity and outdated syntax, which can make it cumbersome to work with compared to modern programming languages. Another issue is the lack of younger developers with expertise in COBOL, as it is not commonly taught in computer science programs today.

If you want to learn more about this subject, we recommend these books.