The World Depends on 60-Year-Old Code No One Knows Anymore
COBOL, a 65-year-old programming language, handles $3 trillion in transactions daily and was created to address portability and cost issues in 1959.
MAIN POINTS FROM TRANSCRIPT
- COBOL handles $3 trillion in transactions daily across major systems in banking, insurance, and government.
- Created in 1959 to solve portability and high cost issues of existing programming languages.
- Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a common business language.
TAKEAWAYS
- COBOL remains crucial for major financial and governmental systems despite its age.
- Early programming languages were not portable and expensive to use.
- The Department of Defense played a key role in the creation of COBOL.