Available Now - 2023 Edition of ISO/IEC 1989, COBOL

Available Now - Newest Edition of ISO/IEC 1989, Programming languages – COBOL

Did you know that the Programming Language COBOL was designed in the 1950s by the CODASYL committee, based on the work of Admiral Grace Hopper? It was standardized by the ANSI in 1968 with the help of Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Laboratories, and despite its maturity is still used by banks and insurance companies all over the world.

In 2023, the COBOL Standard was updated, known as “3rd edition of Information Technology -Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces-Programming language COBOL,” to address today's needs.

This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO/IEC 1989:2014), which has been technically revised.

The main changes are as follows:

— The following were general enhancements:

— An asynchronous messaging facility using the SEND statement and RECEIVE statement

— Boolean exclusive or operators

— Boolean shifting operators

— COBOL words may now be 63 characters long

— The PERFORM statement has been enhanced to specify a time period for pausing the program

— A DELETE FILE statement

— VALUE clause enhancements and changes for numeric-edited items

— Type declarations may now be external items

— Unsigned Packed-Decimal items defined by the NO SIGN phrase of the USAGE clause

— User-defined PICTURE clause editing using the EDITING phrase of the PICTURE clause

— EXTERNAL attributes checking between programs

— Infinite loop for the PERFORM statement using the UNTIL EXIT phrase

— Inline exception handling using the exception-checking format of the PERFORM statement

— An Enhanced INSPECT statement to inspect backwards

— Line Sequential file organization

— The SET statement has been enhanced to allow the setting of the length of a dynamic length elementary item

— Alternate key suppression on indexed files using the SUPPRESS WHEN phrase of the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause

— An optional Commit and rollback processing facility using the COMMIT statement and ROLLBACK statement

— A nonfatal EC-I-O-WARNING exception condition to handle warnings for successful input-output statements

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About INCITS: the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) – is the central U.S. forum dedicated to creating technology standards for the next generation of innovation.  INCITS members combine their expertise to create the building blocks for globally transformative technologies. From cloud computing to communications, from transportation to health care technologies, INCITS is the place where innovation begins. INCITS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is affiliated with ITI. Visit www.incits.org to learn more.