Cobol is the name of a high-level programming language that was specifically designed for business applications, which is also where it got its name – Cobol is short for COmmon Business Oriented Language. It is still in use, though it isn’t as common now as it used to be, since newer coding languages have become standard now.
Technipages Explains Cobol
Classified as a compiled language as it uses a compiler to put together the code before the program is executed, and was released quite a long time ago – back in 1964, after being developed in 1959. It was, in fact, the first language that used data recorded through it for its data structure.
At its core, Cobol was designed in order to retrieve, store or process accounting information at a corporate level. This includes functions like billing, payroll and more. Because it was designed for this very purpose, it quickly became incredibly popular in businesses. Having the ability to automate tasks like inventory control and even payrolls meant that Cobol-based software offered a pretty big advantage over doing the work manually.
For corporate mainframe systems, Cobol quickly became the most widely used language, though it didn’t catch on in the same way for personal computers, where even business and productivity software was more often coded in C or Xbase, rather than Cobol. Despite this, it is still in use in some programs, today.
Common Uses of Cobol
- Cobol’s significance lay in automation of essential business tasks.
- The use of Cobol is less common than during its heyday in the 60s and 70s.
- While Cobol was ideal for business solutions, but it didn’t much catch on for solutions for personal computers.
Common Misuses of Cobol
- Cobol is a high-level programming language used for productivity programs.