COBOL turns 60 – Why it will outlive us all

In computing’s early years, the only languages were machine and assembler. In those days, computing science really was "science." Clearly, there needed to be an easier language for programming those hulking early mainframes. That language, named in September 1959, became Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL).

"While market sizing is difficult to specify with any accuracy, we do know the number of organizations running COBOL systems today is in the tens of thousands. Any time you phone a call center, any time you transfer money, or check your account, or pay a mortgage, or renew or get an insurance quote, or when contacting a government department, or shipping a parcel, or ordering some flowers, or buying something online at a whole range of retailers, or booking a vacation, or a flight, or trading stocks, or even checking your favorite baseball team’s seasonal statistics, you are interacting with COBOL."

See https://www.zdnet.com/article/cobol-turns-60-why-it-will-outlive-us-all/

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#^COBOL turns 60: Why it will outlive us all | ZDNet

In the beginning, there was machine languages and assembler. Neither was easy to use, but then along came COBOL, and everything changed.