COBOL is an anacronym for Common Business-Oriented Language. COBOL is a so-called third generation language--a language designed to be easier for a human to understand and to use to write programs. COBOL is one of the oldest of the third generation languages, along with FORTRAN and Algol. A language with English-like syntax. COBOL has proven popular with many sectors of business and government because of its reliability, ease of maintenance and global use.

COBOL is an example of structured or modular programming. The program is constructed of several coherent modules. The information within each module relates together, and modules can be logically connected. The development of COBOL was synonymous with the move away from less stuctured programming in the 1950s.

COBOL was completed in December of 1959, at about the same time as FORTRAN was developed. COBOL was developed with the intent to...