IBM has offered the computer programming language COBOL on many platforms, starting with the IBM 1400 series and IBM 7000 series, continuing into the industry-dominant IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 mainframe systems, and then through IBM Power Systems (AIX), IBM Z (z/OS and z/VSE), and x86 (Linux).
At the height of COBOL usage in the 1960s through 1980s, the IBM COBOL product was the most important of any industry COBOL compilers. In his popular textbook A Simplified Guide to Structured COBOL Programming, Daniel D. McCracken tries to make the treatment general for any machine and compiler, but when he gives details for a particular one, they are to the IBM COBOL compiler and for a System/370. Similarly, another popular textbook of the time, Stern and Stern's Structured COBOL Programming, tries to present an implementation-independent explanation of the language, but the appendix giving the full syntax of the language is explicitly for IBM COBOL, with its extensions to the language highlighted.
Use of IBM COBOL was so widespread that Capex Corporation, an independent software vendor, made a post-code generation phase object code optimizer for it. The Capex Optimizer became a quite successful product.
Although the IBM COBOL Compiler Family web site only mentions AIX, Linux, and z/OS, IBM still offers COBOL on z/VM and z/VSE.
Products The current IBM COBOL compiler family consists of the following products: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS"IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Product Page" COBOL for AIX"IBM COBOL for AIX Product Page" COBOL for Linux on x86"IBM COBOL for Linux on x86 Product Page" Automatic Binary Optimizer for z/OS (ABO)"IBM Automatic Binary Optimizer for z/OS Product Page" COBOL for OS/390 & VM COBOL for VSE/ESA Development Studio for i
IBM COBOL compiler name, version, release, product numbers, GA and EOS dates
+CompilerRelease levelProduct numberGeneral availability (GA) date (Year-Month-Day)End of support (EOS) date (Year-Month-Day)OS COBOL E360S-C0-503??OS COBOL F360S-CB-524 ??OS American National Standard COBOL (COBOL U)Versions 1-2360S-CB-545??OS Full American National Standard COBOLVersions 1-35734-CB1??OS Full American National Standard COBOLVersions 4-55734-CB2??OS/VS COBOLVersion 1 Release 2 Modification 35740-CB11974-09-231999-12-31OS/VS COBOLVersion 1 Release 2 Modification 45740-CB11976-09-231999-12-31VS COBOL IIVersion 1 Release 35668-9581988-12-161996-06-30VS COBOL IIVersion 1 Release 45668-9581993-03-122001-03-31COBOL/370Version 1 Release 15688-1971991-12-201997-09-30COBOL for MVS & VMVersion 1 Release 25688-1971995-10-272001-12-31COBOL for OS/390 & VMVersion 2 Release 15648-A251997-05-232004-12-31COBOL for OS/390 & VMVersion 2 Release 25648-A252000-09-292004-12-31Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 3 Release 15655-G532001-11-302004-04-04Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 3 Release 25655-G532002-09-272005-10-03Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 3 Release 35655-G532004-02-272007-04-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 3 Release 45655-G532005-07-012015-04-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 4 Release 15655-S712007-12-142014-04-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 4 Release 25655-S712009-08-282022-04-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 5 Release 15655-W322013-06-212020-04-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 5 Release 25655-W322015-02-272020-04-30Enterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS1Version 5 Release 25697-ECV2015-10-062020-04-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 6 Release 15655-EC62016-03-182022-09-30Enterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS1Version 6 Release 15697-V612016-03-182022-09-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 6 Release 25655-EC62017-09-082024-09-30Enterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS1Version 6 Release 25697-V612017-09-082024-09-30Enterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 6 Release 35655-EC62019-09-06Not announced yetEnterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS1Version 6 Release 35697-V612019-09-06Not announced yetEnterprise COBOL for z/OSVersion 6 Release 45655-EC62022-05-27Not announced yetEnterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS1Version 6 Release 45697-V612022-05-27Not announced yetCOBOL for Linux on x86Version 1 Release 15737-L112021-04-16Not announced yetCOBOL for Linux on x86Version 1 Release 25737-L112023-06-09Not announced yetNote:
Enterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS is the same as Enterprise COBOL for z/OS made available under a different product number and pricing metric. Check the lifecycle details (lifecycle dates, announcement letters, and other information) for Enterprise COBOL for z/OS products.
References
External links IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS related links: COBOL for z/OS Community COBOL for z/OS Documentation Library COBOL for z/OS Migration Portal
IBM COBOL for AIX related links: COBOL for AIX Community COBOL for AIX Documentation Library
IBM COBOL for Linux on x86 related links: IBM COBOL for Linux on x86
IBM COBOL Compilers Support: IBM Support Portal