COBOL is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. Many large financial institutions were developing new systems in the language as late as 2006, but most programming in COBOL today is purely to maintain existing applications. Programs are being moved to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages, or replaced with other software. Wikipedia

Created Year: 1959
Created by: CODASYL
Developed by: American National Standards Institute • CODASYL • International Organization for Standardization
Aliases: Common Business-Oriented Language, Cobol
File extensions: cbl, cob, cpy

Wikidata: Q131140

Influenced: ABAP • Algek • CHILL • Delta COBOL • DIBOL • PL/I

Influenced by: COMTRAN • FACT • FLOW-MATIC

Programming paradigms: imperative programming • object-oriented programming • procedural programming

Language types: imperative programming language • object-based language • procedural programming language

       identification division.
       program-id. cobol.
       procedure division.
       main.
           display 'Hello World.' end-display.
           stop run.