What is COBOL and where it runs

What COBOL is

COBOL stands for Common Business-Oriented Language. It was created in 1959 by the Conference on Data Systems Languages committee, and it is one of the oldest programming languages still in daily use.

COBOL is compiled, strongly typed, and designed for business data processing: banking, insurance, payroll, and government systems. Most of the world's ATM transactions still run on COBOL programs.

Where COBOL runs

COBOL runs on mainframes (IBM z/OS), and on Linux, macOS, and Windows through open source compilers like GnuCOBOL. One program can travel between a laptop and a mainframe with almost no changes.

This course uses GnuCOBOL, a free compiler that follows the COBOL 2014 standard:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. HELLO. PROCEDURE DIVISION. DISPLAY "Hello from COBOL". STOP RUN.

Why learn COBOL

COBOL code reads almost like plain English, which makes it a friendly first language for business students. Short programs stay short, and the error messages point at the exact line that needs attention.

COBOL also teaches habits that transfer to other languages: clear data definitions, explicit file handling, and disciplined structure. Banks and insurers pay well for COBOL skills because fewer people learn it every year.

English-like code

COBOL sentences end with a period and verbs are uppercase by convention. Even before you know the syntax, you can probably guess what this loop does:

PERFORM VARYING I FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL I > 10 DISPLAY "Lesson " I END-PERFORM.

Next: Install COBOL and check the version

Article author: Arthur Isaev