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COBOL was initially created in 1959 by The Short Range Committee , one of three committees proposed at a meeting held at the Pentagon in May 1959, organized by Charles Phillips of the United States Department of Defense. The Short Range Committee was formed to recommend a short range approach to a common business language. It was made up of members representing six computer manufacturers and three government agencies. In particular, the six computer manufacturers were Burroughs Corporation, IBM, Minneapolis- Honeywell (Honeywell Labs), RCA, Sperry Rand, and Sylvania Electric Products . The three government agencies were the US Air Force, the David Taylor Model Basin, and the National Bureau of Standards (Now NIST). This committee was chaired by a member of the NBS. An Intermediate-Range Committee and a Long-Range Committee were proposed at the Pentagon meeting as well. However although the Intermediate Range Committee was formed, it was never operational; and the Long-Range Committee was never even formed. In the end a sub-committee of the Short Range Committee developed the specifications of the COBOL language. This sub-committee was made up of six individuals:
This subcommittee completed the specifications for COBOL as the year of 1959 came to an end. The specifications were to a great extent inspired by the FLOW-MATICFLOW-MATIC Originally B-0, and possibly the first English-like Data Processing language. It was invented and specified by Grace Hopper, and development of the commercial variant started at Remington Rand in 1955 for the UNIVAC I. By 1958, the compiler and language invented by Grace HopperRear Admiral Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (born Grace Brewster Murray ( December 9, 1906 January 1, 1992) was an early computer programmer and the developer of the first compiler for a computer programming language. The compiler was known as the A compile, and the IBM COMTRAN language invented by Bob BemerBob Bemer Robert William Bemer February 8, 1920- June 22, 2004) was a computer scientist best known for his work at IBM during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Bemer graduated from Cranbrook Academy in 1936 and took an A.
The specifications were approved by the full Short Range Committee. From there, they were approved by the Executive Committee in JanuaryJanuary is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, and has 31 days. It is named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. The original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months (304 days). The Romans originally considered winter a monthle 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23, and sent to the government printing office, which edited and printed these specifications as Cobol 60 . COBOL was developed within a six month period, and yet is still in use over 40 years later.