The COBOL spec calls for very precise fixed point decimal calculations, an aspect of the language that has been well regarded in financial sectors. Decimal MathĬOBOL is designed around decimal arithmetic, unlike most languages that use a binary internal representation. Some feel it is too verbose, while others argue that the syntax allows for greater readability in a business environment. This design decision has both champions and detractors. The initial intent was to use full words for computational descriptions and data manipulation: MULTIPLY INTEREST-RATE BY BALANCE GIVING CURRENT-INTEREST ROUNDED MODE IS NEAREST-EVEN Although algebraic form is allowed: COMPUTE I = R * B As of the COBOL 2002 spec, Object Oriented features were added to the standard.īy design intent, COBOL is a very verbose programming language. CategoryĬOBOL is a procedural, imperative, compiled programming language. Most of these compilers are proprietary systems, but free software COBOL is also available.

There are upwards of 300 COBOL dialects in existence, with perhaps 10 or so versions taking the lion's share of deployments. IBM mainframe systems usually have a COBOL compiler installed. Banking, government agencies, and the insurance industry are major areas of COBOL application deployments. That usually means transaction processing.

That document was published in May of 2014 and can be purchased from various branches of standard bodies, officially homed atīusiness oriented. ISO/IEC 1989:2014 Information technology – Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces – Programming language COBOL

How does the computational work in cobol?ĬOBOL is the COmmon Business Oriented programming Language.Įven though it has become a pronounceable name, COBOL is still treated as an acronym by the standards committee, and COBOL is the preferred spelling by the ISO and INCITS standards bodies.

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