THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY December 9, 2002 COBOL - Happy Grace Hopper Day from the whatis.com team! ______________ TODAY'S SPONSOR: VeriSign - The Value of Trust
Secure all your Web servers now - with a proven 5-part strategy. The FREE Server Security Guide shows you how to: * DEPLOY THE LATEST ENCRYPTION and authentication techniques * DELIVER TRANSPARENT PROTECTION with the strongest security without disrupting users. And more. Get your FREE Guide now: http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,7941,00.htm?freeguide ______________ TODAY'S WORD: COBOL See our definition with hyperlinks at http://search390.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid10_gci213863,00.html COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was the first widely-used high-level programming language for business applications. Many payroll, accounting, and other business application programs written in COBOL over the past 35 years are still in use and it is possible that there are more existing lines of programming code in COBOL than in any other programming language. While the language has been updated over the years, it is generally perceived as out-of-date and COBOL programs are generally viewed as legacy applications. COBOL was an effort to make a programming language that was like natural English, easy to write and easier to read the code after you'd written it. The earliest versions of the language, COBOL-60 and -61, evolved to the COBOL-85 standard sponsored by the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL). In years immediately preceding the year 2000, many COBOL programs required change to accommodate the new century. Programmers with COBOL skills were in demand by major corporations and contractors. A number of companies have updated COBOL and sell development tools that combine COBOL programming with relational databases and the Internet. COBOL evolved from pioneering work by Grace Hopper, who developed program compilers for the first large-scale digital computer, the Mark I. RELATED TERMS: legacy http://search390.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid10_gci212472,00.html Grace Hopper http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213732,00.html compiler http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid1_gci211824,00.html ______________________ CROSSWORD PUZZLE #7 | Computer Basics Improve your flexible thinking skills. Print out the puzzle and keep it nearby to work on throughout your day! http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci865741,00.html ______________________ QUIZ #32 | Securing Your Network How much do you know about network security? Take our latest quiz and find out. >> Take the quiz http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci857673,00.html ______________________ REAL-LIFE CHALLENGE #20 | Is it ever a good idea to outsource IT? Is outsourcing the IT department under a contractual basis or a per-incident agreement ever a good way to cut costs? Nan, the Director of IT for a manufacturing company must decide. Can you advise? http://whatis.discussions.techtarget.com/WebX?[EMAIL PROTECTED]@.1dcfae0e/194 ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] NIC handle http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci867444,00.html [2] dumb network http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci867260,00.html [3] SoC testing http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci866453,00.html [4] single-system image http://search390.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid10_gci866451,00.html [5] automated test equipment http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci866407,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Published by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. If you would like to sponsor this or any TechTarget newsletter, please contact Gabrielle DeRussy at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Published by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. Unsubscribe from 'Word of the Day' - Simply Reply to this Email with REMOVE within the Body or Subject > or - Go to: http://WhatIs.techtarget.com/register - Log in to edit your profile. - Click on the link to Edit email subscriptions. - Uncheck the box next to the newsletter you wish to unsubscribe from. - When finished, click "Save Changes to My Profile."
