Misplaced Pages

#46953

85-459: It is implemented from many languages by making calls to a software stub, DFSLI000. This stub has entry points to handle a variety of programming languages, e.g., calling CBLTDLI from a COBOL program. This stub is linked to the calling program, passes on the request to the IMS system, and returns the results and a status code. In any full-function IMS database, the smallest element that can be retrieved

170-552: A portable programming language for data processing. It was originally seen as a stopgap, but the Defense Department promptly pressured computer manufacturers to provide it, resulting in its widespread adoption. It was standardized in 1968 and has been revised five times. Expansions include support for structured and object-oriented programming . The current standard is ISO / IEC  1989:2023. COBOL statements have prose syntax such as MOVE x TO y , which

255-514: A "strong anti-IBM bias" from some committee members (herself included). In one case, after Roy Goldfinger, author of the COMTRAN manual and intermediate-range committee member, attended a subcommittee meeting to support his language and encourage the use of algebraic expressions, Grace Hopper sent a memo to the short-range committee reiterating Sperry Rand's efforts to create a language based on English. In 1980, Grace Hopper commented that "COBOL 60

340-756: A 55° thread angle and a thread depth of 0.640327 p and a radius of 0.137329 p , where p is the pitch. The thread pitch increased with diameter in steps specified on a chart. An example of the use of the Whitworth thread is the Royal Navy 's Crimean War gunboats. These were the first instance of "mass-production" techniques being applied to marine engineering. With the adoption of BSW by British railway lines, many of which had previously used their own standard both for threads and for bolt head and nut profiles, and improving manufacturing techniques, it came to dominate British manufacturing. American Unified Coarse

425-563: A common business language. The delegation impressed Charles A. Phillips, director of the Data System Research Staff at the DoD, who thought that they "thoroughly understood" the DoD's problems. The DoD operated 225 computers, had 175 more on order, and had spent over $ 200 million on implementing programs to run on them. Portable programs would save time, reduce costs, and ease modernization. Charles Phillips agreed to sponsor

510-560: A four-character field, examples being: “ GU   ” (Get Unique), “ GN   ” (Get Next), “ REPL ” (Replace), and “ ISRT ” (Insert). With PL/I, due to the way this language does not mark the last parameter with a '1' in bit 0, the first parameter must instead be a fullword (Fixed Bin(31)) containing the number of following parameters. A typical call from a COBOL program might be CALL “ CBLTDLI ” USING GU , Stores-Database-PCB , Stores-Segment-Area , Stores-Root-SSA . The program would then automatically wait till

595-404: A larger network and attracting more consumers to use the new technology, further enhancing network effects. Other benefits of standardization to consumers are reduced uncertainty, because consumers can be more certain that they are not choosing the wrong product, and reduced lock-in, because the standard makes it more likely that there will be competing products in the space. Consumers may also get

680-429: A lead designer of COBOL, said Hopper "was not the mother, creator, or developer of Cobol." IBM's COMTRAN language, invented by Bob Bemer , was regarded as a competitor to FLOW-MATIC by a short-range committee made up of colleagues of Grace Hopper. Some of its features were not incorporated into COBOL so that it would not look like IBM had dominated the design process, and Jean Sammet said in 1981 that there had been

765-441: A measuring instrument or procedure is similar to every subjects or patients. For example, educational psychologist may adopt structured interview to systematically interview the people in concern. By delivering the same procedures, all subjects is evaluated using same criteria and minimising any confounding variable that reduce the validity . Some other example includes mental status examination and personality test . In

850-651: A meeting of representatives from academia, computer users, and manufacturers at the University of Pennsylvania to organize a formal meeting on common business languages. Representatives included Grace Hopper (inventor of the English-like data processing language FLOW-MATIC ), Jean Sammet , and Saul Gorn . At the April meeting, the group asked the Department of Defense (DoD) to sponsor an effort to create

935-504: A merger of two predecessor organizations (Bern and Paris treaties) that had similar objectives, but in more limited territories. With the advent of radiocommunication soon after the creation, the work of the ITU quickly expanded from the standardization of Telegraph communications, to developing standards for telecommunications in general. By the mid to late 19th century, efforts were being made to standardize electrical measurement. Lord Kelvin

SECTION 10

#1732787387047

1020-448: A metal fastening on the other side were usually fastened in non-threaded ways (such as clinching or upsetting against a washer). Maudslay standardized the screw threads used in his workshop and produced sets of taps and dies that would make nuts and bolts consistently to those standards, so that any bolt of the appropriate size would fit any nut of the same size. This was a major advance in workshop technology. Maudslay's work, as well as

1105-576: A more robust file management system. The usefulness of the committee's work was a subject of great debate. While some members thought the language had too many compromises and was the result of design by committee , others felt it was better than the three languages examined. Some felt the language was too complex; others, too simple. Controversial features included those some considered useless or too advanced for data processing users. Such features included Boolean expressions , formulas , and table subscripts (indices). Another point of controversy

1190-1028: A regional level (e.g. Europa, the Americas, Africa, etc) or at subregional level (e.g. Mercosur, Andean Community, South East Asia, South East Africa, etc), several Regional Standardization Organizations exist (see also Standards Organization ). The three regional standards organizations in Europe – European Standardization Organizations (ESOs), recognised by the EU Regulation on Standardization (Regulation (EU) 1025/2012) – are CEN , CENELEC and ETSI . CEN develops standards for numerous kinds of products, materials, services and processes. Some sectors covered by CEN include transport equipment and services, chemicals, construction, consumer products, defence and security, energy, food and feed, health and safety, healthcare, digital sector, machinery or services. The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)

1275-507: A scientific basis, the robustness and applicability of a scientific basis, whether adoption of the certifications is voluntary, and the socioeconomic context (systems of governance and the economy ), with possibly most certifications being so far mostly largely ineffective. Moreover, standardized scientific frameworks can enable evaluation of levels of environmental protection, such as of marine protected areas , and serve as, potentially evolving, guides for improving, planning and monitoring

1360-653: A total cleanup, and, by March 1963, it was reported that COBOL's syntax was as definable as ALGOL 's, although semantic ambiguities remained. COBOL is a difficult language to write a compiler for, due to the large syntax and many optional elements within syntactic constructs, as well as the need to generate efficient code for a language with many possible data representations, implicit type conversions, and necessary set-ups for I/O operations. Early COBOL compilers were primitive and slow. A 1962 US Navy evaluation found compilation speeds of 3–11 statements per minute. By mid-1964, they had increased to 11–1000 statements per minute. It

1445-520: A variety of benefits and drawbacks for firms and consumers participating in the market, and on technology and innovation. The primary effect of standardization on firms is that the basis of competition is shifted from integrated systems to individual components within the system. Prior to standardization a company's product must span the entire system because individual components from different competitors are incompatible, but after standardization each company can focus on providing an individual component of

1530-412: A whole, despite their local readability. For years, COBOL has been assumed as a programming language for business operations in mainframes, although in recent years, many COBOL operations have been moved to cloud computing . In the late 1950s, computer users and manufacturers were becoming concerned about the rising cost of programming. A 1959 survey had found that in any data processing installation,

1615-468: Is 95% FLOW-MATIC" and that COMTRAN had had an "extremely small" influence. Furthermore, she said that she would claim that work was influenced by both FLOW-MATIC and COMTRAN only to "keep other people happy [so they] wouldn't try to knock us out.". Features from COMTRAN incorporated into COBOL included formulas, the PICTURE clause , an improved IF statement, which obviated the need for GO TOs , and

1700-479: Is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative , procedural , and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers , such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. Many large financial institutions were developing new systems in

1785-404: Is a segment . Each segment is made up of fields , one of which, typically, will be a key field. The segments are arranged hierarchically in the database, the highest-level segment type being a root segment. 255 different segment types, on up to 15 levels, are allowed in any database. A database record consists of a specific root segment and all its dependent child segments – there

SECTION 20

#1732787387047

1870-497: Is a Canadian Crown Corporation , DGN is a governmental agency within the Mexican Ministry of Economy, and ANSI and AENOR are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with members from both the private and public sectors. The determinants of whether an NSB for a particular economy is a public or private sector body may include the historical and traditional roles that the private sector fills in public affairs in that economy or

1955-737: Is likely the sole member from that economy in ISO. NSBs may be either public or private sector organizations, or combinations of the two. For example, the three NSBs of Canada, Mexico and the United States are respectively the Standards Council of Canada ( SCC ), the General Bureau of Standards ( Dirección General de Normas , DGN), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). SCC

2040-793: Is made by any contributor or by the CODASYL COBOL Committee as to the accuracy and functioning of the programming system and language. Moreover, no responsibility is assumed by any contributor or by the committee in connection therewith. The authors and copyright holders of the copyrighted material used herein are as follows: FLOW-MATIC (trademark of Unisys Corporation ), Programming for the UNIVAC (R) I and II, Data Automation Systems, copyrighted 1958, 1959, by Unisys Corporation; IBM Commercial Translator Form No. F28-8013, copyrighted 1959 by IBM; FACT, DSI 27A5260-2760, copyrighted 1960 by Minneapolis-Honeywell. They have specifically authorized

2125-429: Is no limit to the number of segments in a record, or to the number of records in a database (apart from the physical limitations of storage space). The structure of any database is presented to the application program as a PCB (Program Communication Block), and this is used as one of the parameters passed to the stub. Other types of PCB are used to send and receive transaction processing messages, access and write to

2210-578: Is not limited to the domain of electronic devices like smartphones and phone chargers but could also be applied to e.g. the energy infrastructure. Policy-makers could develop policies "fostering standard design and interfaces, and promoting the re-use of modules and components across plants to develop more sustainable energy infrastructure ". Computers and the Internet are some of the tools that could be used to increase practicability and reduce suboptimal results, detrimental standards and bureaucracy , which

2295-666: Is often associated with traditional processes and results of standardization. Taxes and subsidies, and funding of research and development could be used complementarily. Standardized measurement is used in monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks of environmental impacts, usually of companies, for example to prevent underreporting of greenhouse gas emissions by firms. In routine product testing and product analysis results can be reported using official or informal standards. It can be done to increase consumer protection , to ensure safety or healthiness or efficiency or performance or sustainability of products. It can be carried out by

2380-707: Is the European Standardization organization developing standards in the electrotechnical area and corresponding to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Europe. The first modern International Organization ( Intergovernmental Organization ) the International Telegraph Union (now International Telecommunication Union ) was created in 1865 to set international standards in order to connect national telegraph networks, as

2465-426: Is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization can help maximize compatibility , interoperability , safety , repeatability , or quality . It can also facilitate a normalization of formerly custom processes. In social sciences , including economics ,

2550-453: Is unclear who coined the name "COBOL", although Bob Bemer later claimed it had been his suggestion. In October, the intermediate-range committee received copies of the FACT language specification created by Roy Nutt . Its features impressed the committee so much that they passed a resolution to base COBOL on it. This was a blow to the short-range committee, who had made good progress on

2635-717: The U.S. Air Force , the Navy's David Taylor Model Basin , and the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). The committee was chaired by Joseph Wegstein of the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. Work began by investigating data descriptions, statements, existing applications, and user experiences. The committee mainly examined the FLOW-MATIC , AIMACO , and COMTRAN programming languages. The FLOW-MATIC language

Data Language Interface - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-543: The standard unit of electric current . R. E. B. Crompton became concerned by the large range of different standards and systems used by electrical engineering companies and scientists in the early 20th century. Many companies had entered the market in the 1890s and all chose their own settings for voltage , frequency , current and even the symbols used on circuit diagrams. Adjacent buildings would have totally incompatible electrical systems simply because they had been fitted out by different companies. Crompton could see

2805-581: The ANSI committee, the CODASYL Programming Language Committee was working on improving the language. They described new versions in 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1973, including changes such as new inter-program communication, debugging, and file merging facilities, as well as improved string handling and library inclusion features. Standardized Standardization ( American English ) or standardisation ( British English )

2890-863: The COBOL Maintenance Committee to answer questions from users and vendors and to improve and expand the specifications. During 1960, the list of manufacturers planning to build COBOL compilers grew. By September, five more manufacturers had joined CODASYL ( Bendix , Control Data Corporation , General Electric (GE), National Cash Register , and Philco ), and all represented manufacturers had announced COBOL compilers. GE and IBM planned to integrate COBOL into their own languages, GECOM and COMTRAN, respectively. In contrast, International Computers and Tabulators planned to replace their language, CODEL, with COBOL. Meanwhile, RCA and Sperry Rand worked on creating COBOL compilers. The first COBOL program ran on 17 August on an RCA 501. On 6 and 7 December,

2975-654: The National Standardizing Associations (ISA) was founded in 1926 with a broader remit to enhance international cooperation for all technical standards and specifications. The body was suspended in 1942 during World War II . After the war, ISA was approached by the recently formed United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) with a proposal to form a new global standards body. In October 1946, ISA and UNSCC delegates from 25 countries met in London and agreed to join forces to create

3060-681: The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards ( OASIS ). There are many specifications that govern the operation and interaction of devices and software on the Internet , which do not use the term "standard" in their names. The W3C , for example, publishes "Recommendations", and the IETF publishes " Requests for Comments " (RFCs). Nevertheless, these publications are often referred to as "standards", because they are

3145-458: The United States of America Standards Institute (now ANSI ) formed groups to create standards. ANSI produced USA Standard COBOL X3.23 in August 1968, which became the cornerstone for later versions. This version was known as American National Standard (ANS) COBOL and was adopted by ISO in 1972. By 1970, COBOL had become the most widely used programming language in the world. Independently of

3230-433: The commercial interest of Indus merchants as smaller weight measures were used to measure luxury goods while larger weights were employed for buying bulkier items, such as food grains etc. Weights existed in multiples of a standard weight and in categories. Technical standardisation enabled gauging devices to be effectively used in angular measurement and measurement for construction. Uniform units of length were used in

3315-459: The committee was too large to make any further progress quickly. A frustrated Howard Bromberg bought a $ 15 tombstone with "COBOL" engraved on it and sent it to Charles Phillips to demonstrate his displeasure. A subcommittee was formed to analyze existing languages and was made up of six individuals: The subcommittee did most of the work creating the specification, leaving the short-range committee to review and modify their work before producing

3400-491: The context of customer service , standardization refers to the process of developing an international standard that enables organizations to focus on customer service, while at the same time providing recognition of success through a third party organization, such as the British Standards Institution . An international standard has been developed by The International Customer Service Institute . In

3485-635: The context of supply chain management and materials management , standardization covers the process of specification and use of any item the company must buy in or make, allowable substitutions, and build or buy decisions. The process of standardization can itself be standardized. There are at least four levels of standardization: compatibility, interchangeability , commonality and reference . These standardization processes create compatibility, similarity, measurement, and symbol standards. There are typically four different techniques for standardization Types of standardization process: Standardization has

Data Language Interface - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-683: The context of information exchange, standardization refers to the process of developing standards for specific business processes using specific formal languages . These standards are usually developed in voluntary consensus standards bodies such as the United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business ( UN/CEFACT ), the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C ), the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and

3655-550: The context of social criticism and social science , standardization often means the process of establishing standards of various kinds and improving efficiency to handle people, their interactions, cases, and so forth. Examples include formalization of judicial procedure in court, and establishing uniform criteria for diagnosing mental disease. Standardization in this sense is often discussed along with (or synonymously to) such large-scale social changes as modernization, bureaucratization, homogenization, and centralization of society. In

3740-526: The contributions of other engineers, accomplished a modest amount of industry standardization; some companies' in-house standards spread a bit within their industries. Joseph Whitworth 's screw thread measurements were adopted as the first (unofficial) national standard by companies around the country in 1841. It came to be known as the British Standard Whitworth , and was widely adopted in other countries. This new standard specified

3825-727: The country, and enabled the markets to act more rationally and efficiently, with an increased level of cooperation. After the First World War , similar national bodies were established in other countries. The Deutsches Institut für Normung was set up in Germany in 1917, followed by its counterparts, the American National Standard Institute and the French Commission Permanente de Standardisation , both in 1918. At

3910-420: The development stage of that economy. Standards can be: The existence of a published standard does not necessarily imply that it is useful or correct. Just because an item is stamped with a standard number does not, by itself, indicate that the item is fit for any particular use. The people who use the item or service (engineers, trade unions, etc.) or specify it (building codes, government, industry, etc.) have

3995-466: The entire activity the Committee on Data Systems Languages , or CODASYL , and to form an executive committee. The short-range committee members represented six computer manufacturers and three government agencies. The computer manufacturers were Burroughs Corporation , IBM , Minneapolis-Honeywell (Honeywell Labs), RCA , Sperry Rand , and Sylvania Electric Products . The government agencies were

4080-484: The executive committee on 4 September. They fell short of expectations: Joseph Wegstein noted that "it contains rough spots and requires some additions," and Bob Bemer later described them as a "hodgepodge." The committee was given until December to improve it. At a mid-September meeting, the committee discussed the new language's name. Suggestions included "BUSY" (Business System), "INFOSYL" (Information System Language), and "COCOSYL" (Common Computer Systems Language). It

4165-452: The finished specification. The specifications were approved by the executive committee on 8 January 1960, and sent to the government printing office, which printed them as COBOL 60 . The language's stated objectives were to allow efficient, portable programs to be easily written, to allow users to move to new systems with minimal effort and cost, and to be suitable for inexperienced programmers. The CODASYL Executive Committee later created

4250-491: The idea of standardization is close to the solution for a coordination problem , a situation in which all parties can realize mutual gains, but only by making mutually consistent decisions. Divergent national standards impose costs on consumers and can be a form of non-tariff trade barrier . Standard weights and measures were developed by the Indus Valley civilization . The centralized weight and measure system served

4335-471: The international level . Standardization is also used to ensure safe design and operation of laboratories and similar potentially dangerous workplaces, e.g. to ensure biosafety levels . There is research into microbiology safety standards used in clinical and research laboratories. In the context of defense, standardization has been defined by NATO as The development and implementation of concepts, doctrines, procedures and designs to achieve and maintain

SECTION 50

#1732787387047

4420-630: The lack of efficiency in this system and began to consider proposals for an international standard for electric engineering. In 1904, Crompton represented Britain at the International Electrical Congress , held in connection with Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis as part of a delegation by the Institute of Electrical Engineers . He presented a paper on standardisation, which was so well received that he

4505-478: The language as late as 2006, but most programming in COBOL today is purely to maintain existing applications. Programs are being moved to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages, or replaced with other software. COBOL was designed in 1959 by CODASYL and was partly based on the programming language FLOW-MATIC , designed by Grace Hopper . It was created as part of a U.S. Department of Defense effort to create

4590-417: The language should make maximal use of English, be capable of change, be machine-independent, and be easy to use, even at the expense of power. The meeting resulted in the creation of a steering committee and short, intermediate, and long-range committees. The short-range committee was given until September (three months) to produce specifications for an interim language, which would then be improved upon by

4675-645: The manufacturer, an independent laboratory, a government agency, a magazine or others on a voluntary or commissioned/mandated basis. Estimating the environmental impacts of food products in a standardized way – as has been done with a dataset of >57,000 food products in supermarkets – could e.g. be used to inform consumers or in policy . For example, such may be useful for approaches using personal carbon allowances (or similar quota) or for targeted alteration of (ultimate overall) costs . Public information symbols (e.g. hazard symbols ), especially when related to safety, are often standardized, sometimes on

4760-565: The meeting, and tasked the delegation with drafting the agenda. On 28 and 29 May 1959 (exactly one year after the Zürich ALGOL 58 meeting), a meeting was held at the Pentagon to discuss the creation of a common programming language for business. It was attended by 41 people and was chaired by Phillips. The Department of Defense was concerned about whether it could run the same data processing programs on different computers. FORTRAN ,

4845-484: The new International Organization for Standardization (ISO); the new organization officially began operations in February ;1947. In general, each country or economy has a single recognized National Standards Body (NSB). Examples include ABNT , AENOR (now called UNE, Spanish Association for Standardization ) , AFNOR , ANSI , BSI , DGN , DIN , IRAM , JISC , KATS , SABS , SAC , SCC , SIS . An NSB

4930-451: The only mainstream language at the time, lacked the features needed to write such programs. Representatives enthusiastically described a language that could work in a wide variety of environments, from banking and insurance to utilities and inventory control. They agreed unanimously that more people should be able to program and that the new language should not be restricted by the limitations of contemporary technology. A majority agreed that

5015-754: The onset of the Industrial Revolution and the need for high-precision machine tools and interchangeable parts . Henry Maudslay developed the first industrially practical screw-cutting lathe in 1800. This allowed for the standardization of screw thread sizes for the first time and paved the way for the practical application of interchangeability (an idea that was already taking hold) to nuts and bolts . Before this, screw threads were usually made by chipping and filing (that is, with skilled freehand use of chisels and files ). Nuts were rare; metal screws, when made at all, were usually for use in wood. Metal bolts passing through wood framing to

5100-468: The other committees. Their official mission, however, was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing programming languages; it did not explicitly direct them to create a new language. The deadline was met with disbelief by the short-range committee. One member, Betty Holberton , described the three-month deadline as "gross optimism" and doubted that the language really would be a stopgap. The steering committee met on 4 June and agreed to name

5185-660: The planning of towns such as Lothal , Surkotada , Kalibangan , Dolavira , Harappa , and Mohenjo-daro . The weights and measures of the Indus civilization also reached Persia and Central Asia , where they were further modified. Shigeo Iwata describes the excavated weights unearthed from the Indus civilization: A total of 558 weights were excavated from Mohenjodaro, Harappa, and Chanhu-daro , not including defective weights. They did not find statistically significant differences between weights that were excavated from five different layers, each measuring about 1.5 m in depth. This

SECTION 60

#1732787387047

5270-497: The products of regular standardization processes. Standardized product certifications such as of organic food , buildings or possibly sustainable seafood as well as standardized product safety evaluation and dis/approval procedures (e.g. regulation of chemicals , cosmetics and food safety ) can protect the environment. This effect may depend on associated modified consumer choices , strategic product support/obstruction, requirements and bans as well as their accordance with

5355-399: The programming cost US$ 800,000 on average and that translating programs to run on new hardware would cost US$ 600,000. At a time when new programming languages were proliferating , the same survey suggested that if a common business-oriented language were used, conversion would be far cheaper and faster. On 8 April 1959, Mary K. Hawes , a computer scientist at Burroughs Corporation , called

5440-457: The protection-quality, -scopes and -extents. Moreover, technical standards could decrease electronic waste and reduce resource-needs such as by thereby requiring (or enabling) products to be interoperable , compatible (with other products, infrastructures, environments, etc), durable , energy-efficient , modular , upgradeable / repairable and recyclable and conform to versatile, optimal standards and protocols. Such standardization

5525-589: The requested data were retrieved and placed in the Segment-Area. The status code contained within the PCB would be updated with either blanks (if all went well) or some informational or error code. A typical call from a PL/I program might be CALL PLITDLI ( FOUR , GU , Stores-Database-PCB , Stores-Segment-Area , Stores-Root-SSA ); . COBOL COBOL ( / ˈ k oʊ b ɒ l , - b ɔː l / ; an acronym for "common business-oriented language")

5610-627: The required levels of compatibility , interchangeability or commonality in the operational, procedural, material, technical and administrative fields to attain interoperability. In some cases, standards are being used in the design and operation of workplaces and products that can impact consumers' health. Some of such standards seek to ensure occupational safety and health and ergonomics . For example, chairs (see e.g. active sitting and steps of research ) could be potentially be designed and chosen using standards that may or may not be based on adequate scientific data. Standards could reduce

5695-591: The responsibility to consider the available standards, specify the correct one, enforce compliance, and use the item correctly: validation and verification . To avoid the proliferation of industry standards, also referred to as private standards , regulators in the United States are instructed by their government offices to adopt "voluntary consensus standards" before relying upon "industry standards" or developing "government standards". Regulatory authorities can reference voluntary consensus standards to translate internationally accepted criteria into public policy . In

5780-491: The same COBOL program (albeit with minor changes) ran on an RCA computer and a Remington-Rand Univac computer, demonstrating that compatibility could be achieved. The relative influence of the languages that were used is still indicated in the recommended advisory printed in all COBOL reference manuals: COBOL is an industry language and is not the property of any company or group of companies, or of any organization or group of organizations. No warranty, expressed or implied,

5865-607: The size and weight of a girder to employ for given work." The Engineering Standards Committee was established in London in 1901 as the world's first national standards body. It subsequently extended its standardization work and became the British Engineering Standards Association in 1918, adopting the name British Standards Institution in 1931 after receiving its Royal Charter in 1929. The national standards were adopted universally throughout

5950-426: The specification. Despite being technically superior, FACT had not been created with portability in mind or through manufacturer and user consensus. It also lacked a demonstrable implementation, allowing supporters of a FLOW-MATIC-based COBOL to overturn the resolution. RCA representative Howard Bromberg also blocked FACT, so that RCA's work on a COBOL implementation would not go to waste. It soon became apparent that

6035-588: The standard specifies 43 statements, 87 functions, and just one class. Academic computer scientists were generally uninterested in business applications when COBOL was created and were not involved in its design; it was (effectively) designed from the ground up as a computer language for business, with an emphasis on inputs and outputs, whose only data types were numbers and strings of text. COBOL has been criticized for its verbosity, design process, and poor support for structured programming . These weaknesses result in monolithic programs that are hard to comprehend as

6120-465: The system. When the shift toward competition based on individual components takes place, firms selling tightly integrated systems must quickly shift to a modular approach, supplying other companies with subsystems or components. Standardization has a variety of benefits for consumers, but one of the greatest benefits is enhanced network effects. Standards increase compatibility and interoperability between products, allowing information to be shared within

6205-545: The use of this material, in whole or in part, in the COBOL specifications. Such authorization extends to the reproduction and use of COBOL specifications in programming manuals or similar publications. It is rather unlikely that Cobol will be around by the end of the decade. Anonymous, June 1960 Many logical flaws were found in COBOL 60 , leading General Electric's Charles Katz to warn that it could not be interpreted unambiguously. A reluctant short-term committee performed

6290-482: The user’s VDU screen, and to print reports, etc. When accessing a database segment, the application program also uses an SSA (Segment Search Argument) as a parameter, to specify the segment or segments that it needs. This would typically contain the segment type required and the contents of any key fields. For all languages except PL/I , the first parameter in a call is the Function Code  –

6375-411: The variety of products and lead to convergence on fewer broad designs – which can often be efficiently mass-produced via common shared automated procedures and instruments – or formulations deemed to be the most healthy, most efficient or best compromise between healthiness and other factors. Standardization is sometimes or could also be used to ensure or increase or enable consumer health protection beyond

6460-420: The workplace and ergonomics such as standards in food, food production, hygiene products, tab water, cosmetics, drugs/medicine, drink and dietary supplements, especially in cases where there is robust scientific data that suggests detrimental impacts on health (e.g. of ingredients) despite being substitutable and not necessarily of consumer interest. In the context of assessment, standardization may define how

6545-464: Was an important figure in this process, introducing accurate methods and apparatus for measuring electricity. In 1857, he introduced a series of effective instruments, including the quadrant electrometer, which cover the entire field of electrostatic measurement. He invented the current balance , also known as the Kelvin balance or Ampere balance ( SiC ), for the precise specification of the ampere ,

6630-545: Was asked to look into the formation of a commission to oversee the process. By 1906 his work was complete and he drew up a permanent constitution for the International Electrotechnical Commission . The body held its first meeting that year in London, with representatives from 14 countries. In honour of his contribution to electrical standardisation, Lord Kelvin was elected as the body's first President. The International Federation of

6715-399: Was designed to be self-documenting and highly readable. However, it is verbose and uses over 300 reserved words compared to the succinct and mathematically inspired syntax of other languages. The COBOL code is split into four divisions (identification, environment, data, and procedure), containing a rigid hierarchy of sections, paragraphs, and sentences. Lacking a large standard library ,

6800-405: Was evidence that strong control existed for at least a 500-year period. The 13.7-g weight seems to be one of the units used in the Indus valley. The notation was based on the binary and decimal systems. 83% of the weights which were excavated from the above three cities were cubic, and 68% were made of chert . The implementation of standards in industry and commerce became highly important with

6885-432: Was observed that increasing memory would drastically increase speed and that compilation costs varied wildly: costs per statement were between $ 0.23 and $ 18.91. In late 1962, IBM announced that COBOL would be their primary development language and that development of COMTRAN would cease. The COBOL specification was revised three times in the five years after its publication. COBOL-60 was replaced in 1961 by COBOL-61. This

6970-938: Was originally based on almost the same imperial fractions. The Unified thread angle is 60° and has flattened crests (Whitworth crests are rounded). Thread pitch is the same in both systems except that the thread pitch for the 1 ⁄ 2  in. (inch) bolt is 12 threads per inch (tpi) in BSW versus 13 tpi in the UNC. By the end of the 19th century, differences in standards between companies were making trade increasingly difficult and strained. For instance, an iron and steel dealer recorded his displeasure in The Times : "Architects and engineers generally specify such unnecessarily diverse types of sectional material or given work that anything like economical and continuous manufacture becomes impossible. In this country no two professional men are agreed upon

7055-484: Was particularly influential because it had been implemented and because AIMACO was a derivative of it with only minor changes. FLOW-MATIC's inventor, Grace Hopper, also served as a technical adviser to the committee. FLOW-MATIC's major contributions to COBOL were long variable names, English words for commands, and the separation of data descriptions and instructions. Hopper is sometimes called "the mother of COBOL" or "the grandmother of COBOL", although Jean Sammet ,

7140-567: Was then replaced by the COBOL-61 Extended specifications in 1963, which introduced the sort and report writer facilities. The added facilities corrected flaws identified by Honeywell in late 1959 in a letter to the short-range committee. COBOL Edition 1965 brought further clarifications to the specifications and introduced facilities for handling mass storage files and tables . Efforts began to standardize COBOL to overcome incompatibilities between versions. In late 1962, both ISO and

7225-509: Was whether to make keywords context-sensitive and the effect that would have on readability. Although context-sensitive keywords were rejected, the approach was later used in PL/I and partially in COBOL from 2002. Little consideration was given to interactivity , interaction with operating systems (few existed at that time), and functions (thought of as purely mathematical and of no use in data processing). The specifications were presented to

#46953