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====== COBOL ====== | ====== COBOL ====== | ||
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+ | COBOL, the COmmon Business-Oriented Language, was created by the CODASYL | ||
+ | consortium in 1959. COBOL was designed to be used for business | ||
+ | programming tasks, and, as such, the language has had little interaction | ||
+ | with, or input from, the computer science community. In fact, computer | ||
+ | scientists including Edsger Dijkstra have heavily criticised the | ||
+ | language. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the design goals of the language was for COBOL programs to be | ||
+ | readable (and perhaps writable) by non-programmers, | ||
+ | COBOL has, however, arguably failed at this goal. The language adopts an | ||
+ | immensely verbose syntax, but also rigid structural requirements, | ||
+ | have their origins in the era of punched cards. It provides only limited | ||
+ | support for structured programming. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Despite its shortcomings, | ||
+ | government applications, | ||
+ | of COBOL code (a testament to its verbosity as much as its popularity) | ||
+ | are maintained today, primarily as legacy applications. | ||
===== Example ===== | ===== Example ===== |