Cobol

Resources and info

• GnuCOBOL (formerly OpenCOBOL)
• GnuCOBOL Guides
• GnuCOBOL Programmer’s Guide Guide 2.2 Final [7Sept2017]
• GnuCOBOL FAQ and How To
• GnuCOBOL FAQ and How To - Using GnuCOBOL
• COBOL Tutorial
• COBOL HELLO WORLD Program
• COBOL Coding Rules
• COBOL - Data Types
• GnuCOBOL FAQ and How To - How do I use GnuCOBOL for CGI?
• GnuCOBOL on Windows – from Compilation to HelloWorld

Hello World example code (GnuCOBOL)

Columns: 1	2	3	4	5	6	7	...
							>>SOURCE FORMAT FREE
							IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
							PROGRAM-ID. HELLOWORLD.
							DATA DIVISION.
							FILE SECTION.
							WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
							PROCEDURE DIVISION.
							MAIN-PROCEDURE.
							DISPLAY "Hello world".
							STOP RUN.
							END PROGRAM HELLOWORLD.

Save source code as helloworld.cob and compile it in GnuCOBOL using the command cobc -x helloworld.cob

There is a informative Stack Overflow Blog post about COBOL: Brush up your COBOL: Why is a 60 year old language suddenly in demand?
Among it's content there's a section about columns in COBOL source code that is quite useful.