COBOL

COmmon Business Oriented Language

CODASYL Committee, Apr 1960.

In the early days, computing meant complex numerical scientific calculations. By contrast, COBOL was a language designed for the needs of business, namely performing simple fixed point arithmetic on large amounts of data. It has been extremely successful, and even after 40 years is still the most widely used programming language. Its verbose natural language style is intended to be easy to read and largely self-documenting.

"Initial Specifications for a Common Business Oriented Language" DoD, US GPO, Apr 1960.

COBOL-60

The original.

COBOL-68

ANS X3.23-1968.

COBOL-74

ANS X3.23-1974.

COBOL-85

ANS X3.23-1985.

COBOL-9x

A new ISO standard is expected in 1997.