Undead COBOL celebrates (another) 50th birthday

“In May 1959, during a meeting at the Pentagon in Washington,
D.C., the US Department of Defense organized a committee charged
with developing a “short range” approach to a common business
computing language. And on September 18th of that year, the new
Short Range Committee coined the name COBOL, short for Common
Business-Oriented Language.

“The committee represented six big-name computer manufacturers
(Burroughs Corp., IBM, Minneapolis-Honeywell, RCA, Sperry Rand,
Sylvania Electric Products) and a trio of government agencies. By
the end of the year, specifications for the new language were
complete, and in 1960, they were approved by the Defense
Department-backed Executive Committee. Some celebrated in May.
Other are celebrating today. And no doubt, someone will celebrate
sometime next year.”

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