Business Systems Programming - Essay Example

Arithmetic encourages a simple forthright programming style. COBOL proves itself to be well fitted to its aimed problem domain, that is, business computing. In this function, most COBOL programs work in a domain where the complexity of the program lies in the business regulations that must be encoded as opposed to the sophistication of the data algorithms or structures required, thus making it easy to handle corrupted data. In the subtraction arithmetic function, when applying the GIVING format, the outcome of the subtraction is positioned in the field after the word “giving.

” The first contents of the receiving field are not part of the arithmetic operation. When a COBOL program does not take part in the operation and is moved to a different position, the programmers understand that the parts of the programs that need to be changed to accommodate these alterations will be exempted (Silverberg 34). The multiply and Divide arithmetic functions can have more than a single resultant field. Consequently, COBOL has English-like structural components like clauses, sentences, verbs, divisions, and sections, making COBOL the most readable, self-documenting, and understandable programing language to make it easy to handle and capture corrupted data as programmers cannot struggle with the complexity of the language.

In my opinion, these functions cannot be found in other more current languages because such languages are difficult to understand when they are revisited after a long period of time especially if they were written by a different programmer.