Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

COmmon Business Oriented Language
     
         /koh'bol/ (COBOL) A programming language
        for simple computations on large amounts of data, designed by
        the {CODASYL} Committee in April 1960.  COBOL's {natural
        language} style is intended to be largely self-documenting.
        It introduced the {record} structure.
     
        COBOL was probably the most widely used programming language
        during the 1960s and 1970s.  Many of the major programs that
        required repair or replacement due to {Year 2000} {software
        rot} issues were originally written in COBOL, and this was
        responsible for a short-lived demand for programmers fluent in
        this "dead language".  Even in 2002 though, new COBOL programs
        are still being written in some organisations and many old
        COBOL programs are still running in {dinosaur} shops.
     
        Major revisions in 1968 (ANS X3.23-1968), 1974 (ANS
        X3.23-1974) and 1985.
     
        Many {hackers} regard COBOL with {fear and loathing} for being
        an {evil}, weak, verbose, and flabby language used by {card
        wallopers} to do boring mindless things on {dinosaur}
        {mainframes}.  Many believe that all COBOL programmers are
        {suits} or {code grinders}, and would deny all knowledge of
        the language.
     
        {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.lang.cobol}.
     
        ["Initial Specifications for a Common Business Oriented
        Language" DoD, US GPO, Apr 1960].
     
        (2002-02-21)