Legacy & Roots / Knowledge library
COBOL
the language your bank still runs on
Why learn COBOL?
Nobody starts projects in COBOL — but the world's money moves through it nightly. Legacy modernization (a real federal-contracting niche) pays well precisely because few learn it.
Where it came from
Designed for business data processing in English-like syntax. An estimated 200+ billion lines still run banking, insurance, and government systems.
Build your understanding
Work through these exercises in order. Try the task before opening a reference.
- Read a COBOL paragraph and explain it in plain English.
- Explain PIC clauses.
- Map a COBOL record layout to a SQL table.
- Describe batch processing vs modern APIs.
- Sketch a modernization plan: COBOL → cloud service.
Documentation and sources
- Official documentation / standards body (www.ibm.com)