Editing COBOL (section)

===COBOL-74===
By 1970, COBOL had become the most widely used programming language in the world.{{sfn|Beyer|2009|p=301}}

Independently of the ANSI committee, the CODASYL Programming Language Committee was working on improving the language. They described new versions in 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1973, including changes such as new inter-program communication, debugging, and file merging facilities, as well as improved string handling and [[library (computing)|library]] inclusion features.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=49}}

Although CODASYL was independent of the ANSI committee, the ''CODASYL Journal of Development'' was used by ANSI to identify features that were popular enough to warrant implementing.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=52}} The Programming Language Committee also liaised with [[Ecma International|ECMA]] and the Japanese COBOL Standard committee.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=49}}

The Programming Language Committee was not well-known, however. The vice president, William Rinehuls, complained that two-thirds of the COBOL community did not know of the committee's existence. It also lacked the funds to make public documents, such as minutes of meetings and change proposals, freely available.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBUJf4n2QxkC&pg=PT10 | title=Few Realise Wasted Resources of Local DP Schools | journal=Computerworld | volume=6 | issue=31 | pages=11 | first=Alan | last=Taylor | date=2 August 1972}}</ref>

In 1974, ANSI published a revised version of (ANS) COBOL, containing new features such as [[#Files|file organizations]], the {{code|DELETE}} statement<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cs1RAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA87 | title=Programming in COBOL: A Course of Twelve Television Lectures | publisher=Manchester University Press | year=1974 | page=87 | isbn=978-0719005923 | last=Triance | first=J. M.}}</ref> and the [[memory segmentation|segmentation]] module.{{Sfn|Klein|2010|p=16}} Deleted features included the {{code|NOTE}} statement, the {{code|EXAMINE}} statement (which was replaced by {{code|INSPECT}}), and the implementer-defined random access module (which was superseded by the new sequential and relative I/O modules). These made up 44 changes, which rendered existing statements incompatible with the new standard.<ref>{{cite report |section=1974 Standard (X3.23–1974) |title=Programming Language Standards—Who Needs Them? |date=May 1977 |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a039740.pdf |access-date=7 January 2014 |pages=19–21 |first1=George N. |last1=Baird |first2=Paul |last2=Oliver |publisher=[[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140107192439/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a039740.pdf |archive-date=7 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The report writer was slated to be removed from COBOL but was reinstated before the standard was published.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pMVcgpPyVMC&pg=PA17 |title='Spotty' Availability A Problem... |page=17 |date=23 July 1975 |last=Culleton | first=John R. Jr. |journal=Computerworld |volume=9 |issue=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_3_D4RqzvIC&pg=PA20 |title=Does Cobol's Report Writer Really Miss the Mark? |journal=Computerworld |volume=9 |issue=25 |page=20 |first=Williams B. |last=Simmons |date=18 June 1975}}</ref> ISO later adopted the updated standard in 1978.<ref name="FS2003" />