Question

4.Describe origin of COBOL, who invented COBOL, strengths of COBOL (at least three), and current applications of COBOL

Answer 1

ANS :

DESCRIPTION :-

COBOL is a programming language that changed into developed inside the year 1959. It became one of the first computer programming languages. The name COBOL stands for COmmon Business-Oriented Language. COBOL was created due to the fact humans desired a language they might use to explain the issues in a manner that is independent of the hardware used. Like SQL COBOL uses a syntax that is close to that of natural languages. As an instance, ADD YEARS TO AGE is a legitimate expression. There are several distinctive versions of COBOL. The newest is from 2002. In fashionable, variations of the language earlier than 1985 aren't compatible with the newer variations, from 1985 and later.

INVENTOR :-

Grace Murray Hopper.

STRENGTH :-

1. It is robust, and there are many tools to aid with testing, debugging, and analysis.
2. It can handle huge processing volumes with ease.
3. It is still widely used, regardless of greatly exaggerated reports of its death. There are billions of lines of COBOL out there, and millions of people (estimates claim ~3,000,000) coding and supporting it. In 1997, the Gartner Group reported that 80% of the world's business ran COBOL with over 200 billion lines of code in operation, and 5 billion lines more being written annually.
4. It's still widely used for business applications, which is an area it excels at. COBOL is relatively easy to develop, use, and maintain.
5. It's easy to read. Its high-level English-like syntax can resemble a well-structured novel with appendices, cross-reference tables, chapters, footnotes and paragraphs. It is self-documenting and appeals to proponents of readability.
6. It is very portable across platforms, without the need for re-compilation.
7. Its simplicity makes it one of the most scalable languages available.

USES :

COBOL language is very easy to use in the work environment due to its features such as self-documentation, easy to understand, the simple language without any complex structures. COBOL applications are being used from past years and they are the long-lived application which is being written in millions of line of code in this language in a sophisticated way so that they can’t be easily replaced by the new programming languages. The code written in this language looks like written in a structured document where each line of codes specific to a certain purpose and it follows the structural hierarchy.

Every year, COBOL systems are responsible for transporting up to 72,000 shipping containers, caring for 60 million patients, processing 80% of point-of-sales transactions and connecting 500 million mobile phone users. COBOL manages our train timetables, air traffic control systems, holiday bookings and supermarket stock controls. And the list could go on.