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C O B O L

C O B O L. O m m o n. u s i ne s s. r iented. anguage. Mark T. Flancbaum CS 356 12/6/02. Introduction. History of COBOL Sample Code Application Areas Strengths and Weaknesses Current State of the Language Future of the Language. History. Related Languages

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C O B O L

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  1. C O B O L O m m o n u s i ne s s r iented anguage Mark T. Flancbaum CS 356 12/6/02

  2. Introduction • History of COBOL • Sample Code • Application Areas • Strengths and Weaknesses • Current State of the Language • Future of the Language

  3. History • Related Languages • FLOW-MATIC, AIMACO COMTRAN • Grace Hopper’s Proposal • CODASYL (Conference on Data Systems Languages) • Sponsored by Department of Defense (DoD) • Goal: Develop a standard business-oriented language • Design Goals: • English as much as possible • Easy to use even at the expense of being less powerful • Design should not be overly restricted by the problems of its implementation

  4. Versions of COBOL

  5. Sample Program • Simple COBOL program that reads employee records and prints out a payroll report

  6. Sample Program • 4 Main Divisions • Identification Division • Identifies Program to Computer • Can Provide Documentation • Environment Division • Describes specific computer equipment to be used in the program. (I/O Devices) • Data Division • Describes I/O variables to be used in program • Procedure Division • Contains instructions necessary for reading input, processing it, and creating output

  7. Sample Program • English-Like Language • PICTURE specifies the data type • Modular design • PERFORM. . .UNTIL Loop • Conditional Variable • Arithmetic Done in English Words

  8. Application Areas • BUSINESS APPLICATIONS • Ideally suited for writing customized application programs. • Specifically for commercial applications • Anything that operates on large volumes of data • Payroll • Inventory • Accounting Reports • Led to Electronic Mechanization of Accounting

  9. Influences • Has had little influence on design of subsequent languages • Few have attempted to design a new language for business applications since its appearance • PL/I

  10. Strengths • Data Division • Operating on Large Volumes of Data Efficiently • Optimal for Business Applications • User friendly • Easy to learn because of English-Like syntax • Readable • Possible for managers with little computer experience to understand COBOL programs • Common to most computers • Compilers available for most computers

  11. Weaknesses • Procedure Division • Lack of Recursion • No Dynamic Memory Allocation • Not capable of handling High level Scientific Problems with complex calculations • COBOL programs are generally longer than similar programs in other languages. • Hurts writability

  12. Weaknesses • If the inventor of C++ can come up with the object-oriented C++ by taking C and adding C’s postfix increment operator, then an object-oriented COBOL should be called: ADD 1 TO COBOL GIVING COBOL which is the languages verbose way of incrementing a value. • (Wikipedia, 2002)

  13. Current State of the Language • One of the most widely used languages today • Estimated 70% of production business applications written in COBOL • No longer the “King” of large-scale development • Packaged Enterprise Applications • “…we use Web front ends, all of our data is on Oracle and our development staff uses a combination of desktop and server tools in their work. But the industrial-strength grunt work is COBOL on UNIX servers. We haven’t found anything that can handle batch data in a more effective manner” (COMPUTERWORLD, 2002).

  14. Predictions • Is COBOL dead? • “Despite the barrels of ink claiming otherwise, the business world still runs on COBOL.” (COMPUTERWORLD, 2002) • COBOL not going anywhere, anytime soon • Possible resurgence in custom development in business to gain competitive advantage. • Support of Microsoft .NET will expand functionality • Program to the web (e-business) • Able to work seamlessly with developers of other languages

  15. Conclusion • COBOL is user-friendly, easy to learn and to read • Designed Specifically for business applications that process large volumes of data • It is still very much alive, but is not the “king” of business as it was a decade ago • COBOL will continue to be the “work horse” of the business world and will expand its functionality to meet new needs

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