Editing COBOL (section)

===COBOL-85===
In June 1978, work began on revising COBOL-74. The proposed standard (commonly called COBOL-80) differed significantly from the previous one, causing concerns about incompatibility and conversion costs. In January 1981, Joseph T. Brophy, Senior Vice-president of [[The Travelers Companies|Travelers Insurance]], threatened to sue the standard committee because it was not [[forward compatibility|upwards compatible]] with COBOL-74. Mr. Brophy described previous conversions of their 40-million-line code base as "non-productive" and a "complete waste of our programmer resources".<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d514ApKzvjYC | title=User Threatens Suit Over Ansi Cobol-80 | journal=Computerworld | volume=15 | issue=4 | pages=1, 8 | first=Rita | last=Shoor | date=26 January 1981}}</ref> Later that year, the [[Data Processing Management Association]] (DPMA) said it was "strongly opposed" to the new standard, citing "prohibitive" conversion costs and enhancements that were "forced on the user".<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1REkdf3I86oC | title=DPMA Takes Stand Against Cobol Draft | journal=Computerworld | volume=15 | issue=43 | pages=1–2 | date=26 October 1981 | first=Rita | last=Shoor}}</ref><ref name="Computerworld 19 37">{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrOC44tBR68C&pg=PA8 | title=Revised Cobol standard may be ready in late '85 | journal=Computerworld | volume=19 | issue=37 | pages=1, 8 | first=John | last=Gallant | date=16 September 1985}}</ref>

During the first public review period, the committee received 2,200 responses, of which 1,700 were negative form letters.<ref name="Computerworld Garfunkel">{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrOC44tBR68C&pg=PA41 | title=Expert addresses Cobol 85 standard | journal=Computerworld | volume=19 | issue=37 | pages=41, 48 | author=<!-- Staff writer(s); no by-line --> | date=16 September 1985}}</ref> Other responses were detailed analyses of the effect COBOL-80 would have on their systems; conversion costs were predicted to be at least 50 cents per line of code. Fewer than a dozen of the responses were in favor of the proposed standard.<ref>{{cite journal| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz-oh7ZQo8MC | title=Responses to Cobol-80 Overwhelmingly Negative | journal=Computerworld | volume=16 | issue=11 | pages=1, 5 | date=15 March 1982 | first=Lois | last=Paul}}</ref>

ISO TC97-SC5 installed in 1979 the international COBOL Experts Group, on initiative of [[Wim Ebbinkhuijsen]]. The group consisted of COBOL experts from many countries, including the United States. Its goal was to achieve mutual understanding and respect between ANSI and the rest of the world with regard to the need of new COBOL features. After three years, ISO changed the status of the group to a formal Working Group: [[ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22#History|WG 4 COBOL]]. The group took primary ownership and development of the COBOL standard, where ANSI made most of the proposals.

In 1983, the DPMA withdrew its opposition to the standard, citing the responsiveness of the committee to public concerns. In the same year, a National Bureau of Standards study concluded that the proposed standard would present few problems.<ref name="Computerworld 19 37" /><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Of5OA6T_6UIC&pg=PA1 | title=Study Sees Few Problems Switching to Cobol-8X | journal=Computerworld | volume=17 | issue=17 | pages=1, 6 | first=Lois | last=Paul | date=25 April 1983}}</ref> A year later, [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] released a [[VAX/VMS]] COBOL-80, and noted that conversion of COBOL-74 programs posed few problems. The new <code>EVALUATE</code> statement and inline <code>PERFORM</code> were particularly well received and improved productivity, thanks to simplified [[control flow]] and [[debugging]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qju5_k3q9AC&pg=PA1 | title=DEC users get head start implementing Cobol-80 | journal=Computerworld | volume=18 | issue=47 | pages=1, 6 | first=Paul | last=Gillin | date=19 November 1984}}</ref>

The second public review drew another 1,000 (mainly negative) responses, while the last drew just 25, by which time many concerns had been addressed.<ref name="Computerworld 19 37"/>

In 1985, the ISO Working Group 4 accepted the then-version of the ANSI proposed standard, made several changes and set it as the new ISO standard COBOL 85. It was published in late 1985.

Sixty features were changed or deprecated and 115<ref>{{cite web |url=https://public.support.unisys.com/aseries/docs/clearpath-mcp-17.0/pdf/86001518-316.pdf |title=COBOL ANSI-85 Programming Reference Manual |author=ClearPath Enterprise Servers |date=April 2015 |website=public.support.unisys.com |publisher=Unisys |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref> were added, such as:{{sfn|Garfunkel|1987|p=150}}<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N066w1XgJXcC&pg=PA438 | title=COBOL Programming: Problems and Solutions | publisher=McGraw-Hill Education | pages=438–451 | isbn=978-0074603185 | first1=M. K. | last1=Roy | first2=D. Ghost | last2=Dastidar | date=1 June 1989 | edition=2nd | section=Features of COBOL-85}}</ref>

* Scope terminators (<code>END-IF</code>, <code>END-PERFORM</code>, <code>END-READ</code>, etc.)
* Nested subprograms
* <code>CONTINUE</code>, a [[Placeholder (Computer syntax)|no-operation statement]]
* <code>EVALUATE</code>, a [[switch statement]]
* <code>INITIALIZE</code>, a statement that can set groups of data to their default values
* Inline <code>PERFORM</code> loop bodies – previously, loop bodies had to be specified in a separate procedure
* Reference modification, which allows access to substrings
* I/O status codes.

The new standard was adopted by all national standard bodies, including ANSI.<ref name="FS2003"/>

Two amendments followed in 1989 and 1993. The first amendment introduced intrinsic functions and the other provided corrections.<ref name="FS2003" />