Cobol

COBOL

Common Business Oriented Language

1959

Cobol was developed in ______.

COBOL

It's the language used on many Mainframe computers to handle massive amounts of throughputs like credit card transactions, airline ticketing, and banking services.

CODASYL

Conference on Data Systems Language

COBOL

It was partly based on the programming language FLOW-MATIC

Grace Hopper

Developer of Cobol

COBOL

It is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use.

1961

COBOL 61

1968

COBOL was approved by ANSI as a standard language for commercial use (COBOL 68)

1974

COBOL 74

1985

COBOL 85

2002

Object oriented COBOL was released

Object Oriented Cobol

could use encapsulated objects as a normal part of COBOL programming.

Why use COBOL

Simple, Precise, Structured, Robust, and Readable

COBOL

is a fixed-point numerical system, rather than floating

Standard language

Cobol is a ___________ that can be compiled and executed on machines such as IBM AS/400, personal computers, etc.

Business oriented

COBOL was designed for applications related to financial domain, defense domain, etc.

Robust language

COBOL is a robust language as its numerous debugging and testing tools are available for almost all computer platforms.

Structured language

Logical control structures are available in COBOL which makes it easier to read and modify.

Program Structure

Sections, Paragraphs, Sentences, Statements, and Characters

Sections

are the logical subdivision of program logic. A section is a collection of paragraphs.

Paragraphs

are the subdivision of a section or division. It is either a user-defined or a predefined name followed by a period, and consists of zero or more sentences/entries.

Sentences

combination of one or more statements.

Sentences

appear only in the Procedure division

Statements

it performs some processing

Characters

lowest in the hierarchy and cannot be divisible

Identification Division, Environment Division, Data Division, and Procedure Division

Four division of cobol program

Identification Division

It is the first and only mandatory division of every COBOL program.

Identification Division

The programmer and the compiler use this division to identify the program.

PROGRAM ID

is the only mandatory paragraph. It specifies the program name that can consist 1 to 30 characters.

Environment Division

is used to specify input and output files to the program.

Configuration sections and Input output section

Two sections of environment division

Source computer and object computer

two paragraphs of configuration section

Configuration section

provides information about the system on which the program is written and executed.

Source computer

System used to compile the program.

Object computer

System used to execute the program

Input output section

provides information about the files to be used in the program.

File control and I/O control

two paragraphs of Input output section

File control

Provides information of external data sets used in the

I/O control

Provides information of files used in the program.

Data Division

is used to define the variables used in the program.

File section, working storage section, local storage section, and linkage section

four sections of data division

Procedure Division

used to include the logic of the program. It consists of executable statements using variables defined in the data division. In this division, paragraph and section names are user-defined.

STOP or RUN

The last statement to end the execution in this division is either ________________.