Overview

COBOL

Stacks130

Followers147

Votes2

GNU Bash

Stacks1.4K

Followers723

Votes8

COBOL vs GNU Bash: What are the differences?

## Introduction

The Key differences between COBOL and GNU Bash are as follows:

1. **Language Type**: COBOL is a high-level programming language used in business applications, focusing on data processing and reports, whereas GNU Bash is a command line interpreter for Unix-like operating systems.
2. **Syntax**: COBOL uses a verbose and English-like syntax, making it easier for non-programmers to understand, while GNU Bash has a concise syntax with a focus on commands and scripting.
3. **Usage**: COBOL is mainly used in legacy systems for large-scale business applications, such as banking and finance, while GNU Bash is preferred for system administration, automation tasks, and shell scripting.
4. **Variables**: COBOL uses data structures and record definitions extensively for working with data, while GNU Bash primarily focuses on simple variable declarations and manipulations.
5. **Control Structures**: COBOL supports traditional procedural programming constructs like loops and conditional statements, while GNU Bash provides shell scripting features like piping, redirection, and command substitution for task automation.
6. **Portability**: COBOL programs are less portable due to system-specific dependencies, whereas GNU Bash scripts can easily run on different Unix-like systems with minimal modifications.

In Summary, COBOL and GNU Bash differ in language type, syntax, usage, variables, control structures, and portability, catering to different programming needs and environments.

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Advice on COBOL, GNU Bash

Justin

Open Source Program Manager at Reblaze

Aug 15, 2019

Review

If you have a file (demo.txt) that has 3 columns:

Column-1    Column-2    Column-3
Row-1a      Row-2a      Row-3a         
Row-1b      Row-2b      Row-3b
Row-1c      Row-2c      Row-3c
Row-1d      Row-2d      Row-3d
Row-1e      Row-2e      Row-3e

and you want to only view the first column of the file in your CLI, run the following:

awk {'print $1'} demo.txt

Column-1
Row-1a
Row-1b
Row-1c
Row-1d
Row-1e

If you want to print the second column of demo.txt, just replace $1 with $2

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

COBOL	GNU Bash
COBOL was one of the first programming languages to be standardised: the first COBOL standard was issued by ANSI in 1968. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments.	The Bourne Again SHell is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). It is intended to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard.
-	Command line editing; Unlimited size command history; Job Control; Shell Functions and Aliases; Indexed arrays of unlimited size; Integer arithmetic in any base from two to sixty-four
Statistics
Stacks 130	Stacks 1.4K
Followers 147	Followers 723
Votes 2	Votes 8
Pros & Cons
Pros 2 Business Oriented Language Cons 2 Extremely long code for simple functions	Pros 3 Customizable 3 Powerful scripting language 2 Widely adopted 0 Cross platform Cons 1 Too Slow
Integrations
No integrations available	Codecov

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