Question

Full form of COBOL?

Answer 1

Answer: Common Business Oriented Language

Explanation:

COBOL stands for Common Business Oriented Language, which is one of the oldest high-level programming languages still in use today. Developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, COBOL was specifically designed to handle business and administrative tasks for companies and government organizations.

The name itself tells us a lot about its purpose. The word "Common" indicates that it was meant to be a standardized language that could be used across different computer systems and organizations. "Business Oriented" shows that it was created specifically for commercial and administrative applications rather than scientific computing. Finally, "Language" refers to its nature as a programming language used to communicate instructions to computers.

COBOL was developed by a team led by Grace Hopper, often called the "mother of COBOL," who wanted to create a programming language that used English-like syntax. This made it easier for business professionals to understand and work with, even if they weren't computer specialists. The language uses common English words and phrases, making the code more readable than many other programming languages of that era.

The primary applications of COBOL include handling large-scale business operations such as payroll systems, banking transactions, insurance processing, and government record-keeping. Many of the world's financial institutions still rely on COBOL-based systems for their core operations, particularly for processing millions of transactions daily.

Despite being over 60 years old, COBOL remains relevant in today's technology landscape. It's estimated that billions of lines of COBOL code are still running critical business applications worldwide. While newer programming languages have emerged for modern application development, COBOL's reliability, stability, and proven track record in handling massive data processing tasks keep it valuable for legacy systems and certain specialized business applications.