catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  COmmon Business Oriented Language
       
           /koh'bol/ (COBOL) A programming language
          for simple computations on large amounts of data, designed by
          the CODASYL Committee in April 1960.  COBOL's natural
          language style is intended to be largely self-documenting.
          It introduced the record structure.
       
          COBOL was probably the most widely used programming language
          during the 1960s and 1970s.  Many of the major programs that
          required repair or replacement due to Year 2000 software
          rot issues were originally written in COBOL, and this was
          responsible for a short-lived demand for programmers fluent in
          this "dead language".  Even in 2002 though, new COBOL programs
          are still being written in some organisations and many old
          COBOL programs are still running in dinosaur shops.
       
          Major revisions in 1968 (ANS X3.23-1968), 1974 (ANS
          X3.23-1974) and 1985.
       
          Many hackers regard COBOL with fear and loathing for being
          an evil, weak, verbose, and flabby language used by card
          wallopers to do boring mindless things on dinosaur
          mainframes.  Many believe that all COBOL programmers are
          suits or code grinders, and would deny all knowledge of
          the language.
       
          Usenet newsgroup: news:comp.lang.cobol.
       
          ["Initial Specifications for a Common Business Oriented
          Language" DoD, US GPO, Apr 1960].
       
          (2002-02-21)