COBOL

Common Business Oriented Language is known as COBOL. It is procedural, object-oriented, and imperative. A computer program called a compiler converts other computer programs written in high-level (source) languages into machine code, which the computer can understand. Data is input into a file or database, processed, and produced via COBOL. In a nutshell, COBOL receives data, computes it, and then produces the results.

COBOL was created for corporate computer applications in sectors like finance and human resources. COBOL employs English words and phrases, in contrast to other high-level computer programming languages, to make it simpler for regular business users to understand. The language was based on Rear Admiral Grace Hopper’s work on the primarily text-based FLOW-MATIC programming language from the 1940s. Often known to as the “grandmother of COBOL,” Hopper served as a technical consultant on the FLOW-MATIC project.

All operating systems had their own corresponding programming languages prior to COBOL. This presented a challenge for businesses that utilized a variety of computer brands, as was the case with the US Department of Defense, which supported the COBOL project. COBOL soon rose to prominence as one of the most widely used programming languages in the world due to its portability and ease of use. Even though COBOL is often considered obsolete, it has the most lines of active code of any programming language code.

Characteristics of COBOL

• simplicity and uniformity. A standard language that is simple to learn and can be compiled and run on a variety of machines is COBOL. It has a clean coding style and offers a large syntactic vocabulary.
• abilities geared for business. Large amounts of data can be handled by COBOL thanks to its sophisticated file-handling capabilities. More than 70% of all commercial transactions are still conducted in COBOL. From straightforward batch reporting to intricate operations, COBOL is an excellent choice.
• Universality. COBOL is cross-platform and device compatible and has evolved over the course of six decades of corporate change. Nearly all computer platforms can use the language’s debugging and testing tools, and new COBOL solutions, compilers, and development tools are launched every year.
• Scalability and organization. COBOL’s logical control structures make it simple to read, alter, and debug. Additionally, COBOL is cross-platform compatible, dependable, and scalable.

COBOL Features

Standard Language

On devices like the IBM AS/400, personal computers, and other computing platforms, COBOL is a standard language that may be compiled and run.

For business-oriented applications in the financial, defense, and other sectors, Business Oriented COBOL was created. Due to its sophisticated file processing features, it is capable of handling large volumes of data.

Strong Language

Due to the availability of its many debugging and testing tools across practically all computer platforms, COBOL is a robust language.

Organizing Language

Because COBOL has logical control structures, it is simpler to read and alter. COBOL is simple to debug since it has numerous divisions.

The following graphic illustrates the divisions that make up a COBOL program structure.

Below is a quick description of these divisions.

Program logic is divided into sections logically. A section consists of several paragraphs.

The subdivision of a section or division is a paragraph. It has zero or more sentences/entries and is either a user-defined or a predefined name followed by a period. The combination of one or more statements forms a sentence. Only the Procedure division has sentences. A period is required to end a sentence.

Statements are grammatically correct COBOL commands that carry out the processing.

In the hierarchy, characters are at the bottom and cannot be divided.