What is cobol and what is its' purpose??????

Answer 1

Common Business Oriented Language. Now basically obsolete.

It was the first non-technical language for IT and data processing used on old mainframes. It used long name keywords that emulated business processes such as:

printdatabaselists

printsalesquotalists

printaccountaddresses

It was to businesses back then what SQL or Oracale is today.

It was a language designed to manipulate primarily text data. Names, addresses, data base stuff.

At that time there were three primary high level languages.

FORTRAN for science
COBOL for business
BASIC for college students and professors

Low level langues were basically Pneumonics or ASSEMBLY language.

C language wasn't yet in use.

BASIC could have been used, but no one really made readily avaiable BASIC programs outside of the school system.

COBOL was a well established language commercially and often came packed with IBM or UNivac computers sold to businesses.

COBOL programmers were making over $50,000 a year in 1971!

That was a Lawyer, Dentist or Doctor's salary back then!

And Cobol programmers didn't have to employ a nurse or buy malpractise insurance. They were paid employees with fully paid Blue Cross plans, 12 holidays a year and some got 4 weeks vaction at one time! They worked 9 - 5 M-F.

Cobol started to become obsolete when businesses switched to Mini and Desk Top PCs.

C language and to a lesser degree PASCAL started getting used to make business programs like Word Perfect, Sheet, Lotus 1-2-3

Small businesses turned to BASIC, which could be used on a PC, TRS-80, Kaypro to make custom business programs in house.

With the advent of Windows and Mac interfaces C, C++ and Visual BASIC programs took over with cell-o wrapped packages like Turbo Tax, Access, Pagemaker, SQL Server, UPS, Fed Ex, Adobe, Corel, Word, etc.

By 1993 mainframes and mini computers were dead ducks. Cobol, Fortran and even Ada were face less usage, along with Modula, Pascal and even Assembler.

When Microsoft perfected "Visual" the whole programming world changed. Even C++ became more accessable and faster to work with.

Visual BASIC reach a high point in 2000.

Visual J++ took a minor role for a while.

Visual C++ is now a mainstay.

Visual .net is still an infant.

Answer 2

COBOL is not extict nor will it be. I've been programming this language for 15 years, and make decent a six figure income. The reason it will not be extinct is that the banking industry has literally billions of lines of COBOL code that would be too difficult to ever convert. The best thing about COBOL is it is a high level language that is easier to maintain because of the readability. Many people think mainframes are going to be extinct too, but that is not the case because mainframes are so powerful they can crunch huge volumes of data in a very short amount of time. The biggest problem with COBOL is that India is training far more COBOL programmers than the US so many of the jobs are going there now. Everybody here wants to program the "cool" languages.

Answer 3

COBOL is a legacy computer language which was popular for several decades & is still being used today. Its purpose was to create programs which had a top-down structure and could be separated into perform procedures. It was also suppose to be easy to document within the program. It was most popular on the medium systems to mainframes though it did migrate over to PC's. Never quite made the jump to Client/Server but there was an unsucessful attempt at Visual Cobol. Cobol was originally developed by the Navy.

Answer 4

COBOL, the "Common Business-Oriented Language", is a computer language invented in the late 1950s that aimed at being easy for programmers to read and write. To a great extent, the commands of COBOL look like English sentences: for example, "ADD 1 TO INVENTORYCOUNT". That was a lot easier to read than the numerically-formatted computer instructions used in preceding years. It was a great step forward.

COBOL became the main language used in business data processing, and although it has lost its dominance, it is still used today.

Perhaps the best-known name associated with the origin of COBOL is that of Grace Hopper, a Navy officer whose work on the "FLOW-MATIC" language influenced the group that developed the first COBOL specifications. By the time of her retirement decades later, she was an Admiral, and she remains the most famous woman in the field of information technology (IT).

Answer 5

COBOL is a third-generation programming language. 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.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL

Answer 6

I learned Cobol back in 1983. Got a degree in computer programming. I never used that degree opted to become a graphic artist now I make my living working in photoshop. Forget Cobal learn a software like program like Cinema 4D make alot of money and enjoy your job.

Answer 7

man thats my question too. i asked it like 2 times. lol
i wanna know how u put a computer in cobol from cmd

Answer 8

COBOL is Common business-oriented language... fro mteh dictionary

Answer 9

'Breark' is Kobol for I surrender.

Answer 10

Alice,

I've been writing COBOL for years. Still do, a bit. We have to talk. Please contact me through my profile.

This is a short sample COBOL program I wrote for a talk at a high school Career Day. It will line up properly if you copy it to Notepad and change the font to courier.
============================================

*@@@ CL997R00M - Demonstrate COBOL programming for Career Day

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. CL997R00M.

Author.
Date-Written. 18 Mar 2004.

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
/
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 MONTH-VALUES.
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "January ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "February ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "March ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "April ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "May ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "June ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "July ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "August ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "September".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "October ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "November ".
05 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "December ".

01 FILLER REDEFINES MONTH-VALUES.
05 MONTH-NAME
OCCURS 12 TIMES PIC X(10).

01 WS-SYS-DATE-TIME.
05 WS-SYS-DATE8.
10 WS-SYS-YR4 PIC 9(04).
10 WS-SYS-MNTH PIC 9(02).
10 WS-SYS-DAY PIC 9(02).
05 WS-SYS-TIME8.
10 WS-SYS-HOUR PIC 9(02).
10 WS-SYS-MINS PIC 9(02).
10 WS-SYS-SECS PIC 9(02).
10 WS-SYS-HSEC PIC 9(02).
05 FILLER PIC X(05).

01 WS-CALC-FIELDS.
05 WS-AGE PIC 9(04).

01 INPUT-FIELDS.
05 INP-NAME PIC X(12).
05 INP-DATE8.
10 INP-YR4 PIC 9(04).
10 INP-MNTH PIC 9(02).
10 INP-DAY PIC 9(02).

01 DISPLAY-LINE-1.
05 FILLER PIC X(05) VALUE "Good ".
05 DL1-DAY-PART PIC X(10).
05 FILLER PIC X(11) VALUE ". Today is ".
05 DL1-DAY PIC X(03).
05 DL1-MNTH-NAME PIC X(11).
05 DL1-YR4 PIC X(04).

01 ERR-CNTR PIC 9(01).

01 WS-HONORIFIC-VALUES.
05 FILLER PIC X(12) VALUE "Sir or Ma'am".
05 FILLER PIC X(12) VALUE "Human".
05 FILLER PIC X(12) VALUE "Sleepy-head".
05 FILLER PIC X(12) VALUE "Clumsy".
05 FILLER PIC X(12) VALUE "Night Light".
05 FILLER PIC X(12) VALUE "Moron".

01 WS-HONORIFIC-TABLE REDEFINES WS-HONORIFIC-VALUES.
05 WS-HONORIFIC
OCCURS 6 TIMES PIC X(12).

01 WS-ERROR-MSG.
05 FILLER PIC X(07) VALUE "ERROR #".
05 WS-ERR-NUM PIC X(01).
05 FILLER PIC X(05) VALUE " >>> ".
05 WS-ERR-SPECIFIC PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X(02) VALUE ", ".
05 WS-ERR-HONORIFIC PIC X(12).
05 FILLER PIC X(20) VALUE ". Please try again.".
/
PROCEDURE DIVISION.

000-MAINLINE.

MOVE FUNCTION CURRENT-DATE TO WS-SYS-DATE-TIME.

IF WS-SYS-HOUR < 12
MOVE "Morning" TO DL1-DAY-PART
ELSE
IF WS-SYS-HOUR < 18
MOVE "Afternoon" TO DL1-DAY-PART
ELSE
MOVE "Evening" TO DL1-DAY-PART.

MOVE WS-SYS-DAY TO DL1-DAY.
MOVE MONTH-NAME (WS-SYS-MNTH) TO DL1-MNTH-NAME.
MOVE WS-SYS-YR4 TO DL1-YR4.

DISPLAY " ".
DISPLAY DISPLAY-LINE-1.
DISPLAY " ".

DISPLAY "Please enter your name: " WITH NO ADVANCING.
ACCEPT INP-NAME.

MOVE 0 TO ERR-CNTR.


010-GET-MNTH.

DISPLAY "Please enter your birth MONTH as two digits: " WITH NO ADVANCING.
ACCEPT INP-MNTH.

IF INP-MNTH NOT NUMERIC
MOVE "MONTH not two digits" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 010-GET-MNTH.

IF INP-MNTH < 01
MOVE "MONTH too low" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 010-GET-MNTH.

IF INP-MNTH > 12
MOVE "MONTH too high" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 010-GET-MNTH.



020-GET-DAY.

DISPLAY "Please enter your birth DAY as two digits : " WITH NO ADVANCING.
ACCEPT INP-DAY.

IF INP-DAY NOT NUMERIC
MOVE "DAY not two digits" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 020-GET-DAY.

IF INP-DAY < 01
MOVE "DAY too low" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 020-GET-DAY.

IF INP-DAY > 31
MOVE "DAY too high" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 020-GET-DAY.


030-GET-YR4.

DISPLAY "Please enter your birth YEAR as four digits: " WITH NO ADVANCING.
ACCEPT INP-YR4.

IF INP-YR4 NOT NUMERIC
MOVE "YEAR not two digits" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 030-GET-YR4.

COMPUTE WS-AGE = WS-SYS-YR4 - INP-YR4.

IF WS-AGE < 10
MOVE "YEAR too low" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 030-GET-YR4.

IF WS-AGE > 15
MOVE "YEAR too high" TO WS-ERR-SPECIFIC
PERFORM B00-BOO-BOO
GO TO 030-GET-YR4.

DISPLAY INP-NAME ", you are " WS-AGE " years old".
DISPLAY " ".

STOP RUN.


B00-BOO-BOO.

ADD 1 TO ERR-CNTR.
MOVE WS-HONORIFIC (ERR-CNTR) TO WS-ERR-HONORIFIC.
MOVE ERR-CNTR TO WS-ERR-NUM.
DISPLAY WS-ERROR-MSG.

DISPLAY " ".

IF ERR-CNTR = 6
DISPLAY " "
DISPLAY "Listen, MEAT BALL, why don't you go home and let me"
DISPLAY " do this myself? No offence; some of my best"
DISPLAY " friends are intelligent, protein-based"
DISPLAY " life forms. You just aren't one of them."
DISPLAY " "
STOP RUN.