Definitions for COBOL
ˈkoʊ bɔlcobol

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. COBOLnoun

   common business-oriented language

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. COBOLnoun

   A programming language developed in the late 1950s especially for business applications.

2. Etymology: Co(mmon) b(usiness-)o(riented) l(anguage).

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. COBOL

   COBOL (; an acronym for "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. However, due to its declining popularity and the retirement of experienced COBOL programmers, programs are being migrated to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages or replaced with software packages. Most programming in COBOL is now purely to maintain existing applications; however, many large financial institutions were still developing new systems in COBOL as late as 2006.COBOL was designed 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 Department of Defense promptly forced computer manufacturers to provide it, resulting in its widespread adoption. It was standardized in 1968 and has since been revised four times. Expansions include support for structured and object-oriented programming. The current standard is ISO/IEC 1989:2014.COBOL statements have an English-like syntax, which was designed to be self-documenting and highly readable. However, it is verbose and uses over 300 reserved words. In contrast with modern, succinct syntax like y = x;, COBOL has a more English-like syntax (in this case, MOVE x TO y). COBOL code is split into four divisions (identification, environment, data, and procedure) containing a rigid hierarchy of sections, paragraphs and sentences. Lacking a large standard library, the standard specifies 43 statements, 87 functions and just one class. Academic computer scientists were generally uninterested in business applications when COBOL was created and were not involved in its design; it was (effectively) designed from the ground up as a computer language for business, with an emphasis on inputs and outputs, whose only data types were numbers and strings of text. COBOL has been criticized throughout its life for its verbosity, design process, and poor support for structured programming. These weaknesses result in monolithic, verbose (intended to be English-like) programs that are not easily comprehensible. For years, COBOL has been assumed as a programming language for business operations in mainframes, although in recent years an increasing interest has surged on migrating COBOL operations to cloud computing.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. cobol

   COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) is a high-level programming language for business applications. It was one of the first high-level programming languages and was created in the late 1950s. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems and is still widely used today.

WikidataRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. COBOL

   COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages, primarily designed by Grace Hopper. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. The COBOL 2002 standard includes support for object-oriented programming and other modern language features.

The New Hacker's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. COBOL

   [COmmon Business-Oriented Language] (Synonymous with evil.) A weak, verbose, and flabby language used by code grinders to do boring mindless things on dinosaur mainframes. Hackers believe that all COBOL programmers are suits or code grinders, and no self-respecting hacker will ever admit to having learned the language. Its very name is seldom uttered without ritual expressions of disgust or horror. One popular one is Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous observation that “The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.” (from Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective) See also fear and loathing, software rot.

Matched Categories

1. • Programming Language

How to pronounce COBOL?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say COBOL in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of COBOL in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of COBOL in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of COBOL in a Sentence

1. E.W. Dijkstra:

   The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be reguarded as a criminal offense.

2. Anonymous:

   Real programmers don't write in PLI. PLI is for programmers who can't decide whether to write in COBOL or FORTRAN.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=COBOL
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cobol
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobol
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=COBOL
6. ^ The New Hacker's Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3008/3008-h/3008-h.htm#Cobol