COBOL

Aims To provide a brief introduction to the programming language COBOL. To provide a context in which its uses might be understood. To introduce the Metalanguage used to describe syntactic elements of the language. To provide an introduction to the major structures present in a COBOL program.

Objectives By the end of this unit you should -

1. Know what the acronym COBOL stands for.
2. Be aware of the significance of COBOL in the marketplace.
3. Understand some of the reasons for COBOL's success.
4. Be able to understand COBOL Metalanguage syntax diagrams.
5. Be aware of the COBOL coding rules
6. Understand the structure of COBOL programs
7. Understand the purpose of the IDENTIFICATION, ENVIRONMENT, DATA and PROCEDURE divisions.

What is COBOL?

Introduction COBOL is a high-level programming language first developed by the CODASYL Committee (Conference on Data Systems Languages) in 1960. Since then, responsibility for developing new COBOL standards has been assumed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Three ANSI standards for COBOL have been produced: in 1968, 1974 and 1985. A new COBOL standard introducing object-oriented programming to COBOL, is due within the next few years.
The word COBOL is an acronym that stands for COmmon Business Oriented Language. As the the expanded acronym indicates, COBOL is designed for developing business, typically file-oriented, applications. It is not designed for writing systems programs. For instance you would not develop an operating system or a compiler using COBOL.