Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

String Oriented Symbolic Language
     
         (SNOBOL) A string processing language for text and
        formula manipulation written by David Farber, Ralph Griswold,
        and I. Polonsky of {Bell Labs} in 1962-3.
     
        SNOBOL had only simple {control structures} but provided a
        rich string-matching formalism of power comparable to {regular
        expressions} but implementated differently.  People used it
        for simple {natural language processing} analysis tasks well
        into the 1980s.  Since then, {Perl} has come into favour for
        such tasks.
     
        SNOBOL was originally called "SEXI" - String EXpression
        Interpreter.  In spite of the suggestive name, SNOBOL is not
        related to {COBOL}.
     
        Implementations include (in no particular order): {SNOBOL2},
        {SNOBOL3}, {SNOBOL4}, {FASBOL}, {SITBOL}, {MAINBOL}, {SPITBOL}
        and {vanilla}.
     
        See also {EZ}, {Poplar}, {SIL} and {Icon}.
     
        ["SNOBOL, A String Manipulating Language", R. Griswold et al,
        J ACM 11(1):21, Jan 1964].
     
        [When and why was SEXI renamed?]
     
        (1998-03-03)