Abstract: This paper reviews the history of criticism of COBOL and the recurring predictions that COBOL will soon vanish from the scene. It then presents an analysis of the help-wanted advertising for business programmers in the Boston Sunday Globe from 1982 through 1988. Help-wanted advertisements are an acknowledged indicator of business trends. The data from help-wanted advertisements support the author's contention that COBOL is and will remain the major computer language for business applications. Companies are advertising for COBOL programmers because they have been using COBOL for years and plan to continue using COBOL. Undergraduate curriculum for CIS education should reflect the needs of the business community for COBOL programmers. COBOL has been the central language of such curriculum and should remain as the central language for undergraduate CIS education.

Keywords: COBOL, CIS education

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Recommended Citation: MacDonald, L. (1989). COBOL: Still the Major Language for Business Applications Programmers. Journal of Information Systems Education, 1(3), 12-15.