What is Picture: Definition and 415 Discussions

COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. However, due to its declining popularity and the retirement of experienced COBOL programmers, programs are being migrated to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages or replaced with software packages. Most programming in COBOL is now purely to maintain existing applications; however, many large financial institutions were still developing new systems in COBOL as late as 2006 due to the mainframe processing speed.COBOL was designed in 1959 by CODASYL and was partly based on the programming language FLOW-MATIC designed by Grace Hopper. It was created as part of a US Department of Defense effort to create a portable programming language for data processing. It was originally seen as a stopgap, but the Department of Defense promptly forced computer manufacturers to provide it, resulting in its widespread adoption. It was standardized in 1968 and has since been revised four times. Expansions include support for structured and object-oriented programming. The current standard is ISO/IEC 1989:2014.COBOL statements have an English-like syntax, which was designed to be self-documenting and highly readable. However, it is verbose and uses over 300 reserved words. In contrast with modern, succinct syntax like y = x;, COBOL has a more English-like syntax (in this case, MOVE x TO y).
COBOL code is split into four divisions (identification, environment, data, and procedure) containing a rigid hierarchy of sections, paragraphs and sentences. Lacking a large standard library, the standard specifies 43 statements, 87 functions and just one class.
Academic computer scientists were generally uninterested in business applications when COBOL was created and were not involved in its design; it was (effectively) designed from the ground up as a computer language for business, with an emphasis on inputs and outputs, whose only data types were numbers and strings of text.
COBOL has been criticized throughout its life for its verbosity, design process, and poor support for structured programming. These weaknesses result in monolithic, verbose (intended to be English-like) programs that are not easily comprehensible.

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  1. entropy1

    Could we picture the universe without entropy (in it)?

    It is sometimes said that entropy is "unlikely" to return to the "pattern" that it came from, for instance: if we have a vat with blue gasmolecules and white gasmolecules separated by a slit, if we remove the slit, the blue and white molecules will mingle, unlikely to return to their separated...
  2. G

    Picture Posting Help - Tips & Tricks

    Help with the picture posted!
  3. Pushoam

    Deciding holonomic constraint by drawing a picture

    Homework Statement Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution I have not understood the question. So, could anyone please put some more light upon the question?
  4. HastiM

    Does the picture change if we turn a thin lens around

    Hello, suppose we are given a thin lens and consider an image of some object formed by that lens. I am wondering what would happen to the image if the thin lens is flipped around (180 degrees)? Of course, if the lens is perfectly symmetric -like for a bi-konvex lens- then the picture should not...
  5. BillTre

    What Are the Shared Features of Vertebrate Central Nervous Systems?

    This is a nice picture of an early Xenopus larvae (from here). Larvae are from after embryogenesis and hatching, but before they transform (metamorphose) into their adult form (in this case a frog). It is fluorescently labeled: red: muscle green: neural tissue blue: background tissue (maybe...
  6. Zack K

    Mass of a picture in static equilibrium

    Homework Statement An artist must push with a minimum of 75N at an angle of 45° to a picture to hold it in equilibrium. The coefficient of friction between the wall and the picture frame is 0.30. What is the mass of the picture? Homework Equations ΣF=0 Ffr=μFN F=ma The Attempt at a Solution I...
  7. BillTre

    Very Nice Alligator Embryo Picture

    Recently I ran across this very nice picture of a developing alligator embryo (lower jaw yet to grow out). http://www.faseb.org/Resources-for-the-Public/Scientific-Contests/BioArt/Past-Winners/2017-BioArt-Winners.aspx to the original picture. It is fluorescently labeled: orange muscle cells...
  8. S

    I Total reflection in Feynman picture

    In his popularized version of QED (Strange Theory...) Feynman explains reflection from an air-water boundary (including total internal reflection) by summing up the amplitudes of various paths that bend at the boundary but are straight everywhere else. As we add more contributions, we see a...
  9. O

    MHB How does the row picture differ from the column picture in linear systems?

    Hi, I hope someone can help. I'm wanting to get a better grasp on the connection between the row picture v.s. the column picture of linear systems and their solutions. In the picture below, the row picture are the three graphs on the top and their corresponding column pictures are below them...
  10. Spinnor

    I How does gravitation fit into this picture of branes?

    In another thread I posted this graphic, How does this picture above need to be modified to include gravitation if possible? What does the M+ and the M- represent? Is there a place for the Higgs particle in the above picture? Could the above picture be turned into a movie and show say an...
  11. L

    I Hamiltonian after transformation to interaction picture

    Dear all, I am encoutering some difficulties while calculating the Hamiltonian after the transformation to the interaction picture. I am following the tutorial by Sasura and Buzek: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0112041 Previous: I already know that the Hamiltonian for the j-th ion is given...
  12. mfb

    B Most detailed picture of Antares

    From ESO An image of Antares, taken with the Very Large Telescope in interferometry mode. It is the most detailed picture of any star apart from the Sun. The star has 900 times the diameter of Sun and is (sort of) nearby at 550 light years distance, making it a great target for these...
  13. Spinnor

    B Picture of "very" blue galaxy, good place for super nova?

    This story, "Cosmic Map Reveals a Not-So-Lumpy Universe", https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cosmic-map-reveals-a-not-so-lumpy-universe/ included an interesting picture of galaxy NGC 1398, Also seen here...
  14. S

    B Velocity-Composition Law w/ c=1: Deriving the Formula

    (##c = 1##) So: ##v = \dfrac{u + w}{1 + uw}##. If the thing with speed ##u## happens to be light, then the equation still works: ##v = \dfrac{(1) + w}{1 + (1)(w)} = 1##. And the inverse formula still works, too: ##u = \dfrac{v - w}{1 - vw} = \dfrac{(1) - w}{1 - (1)w} = 1## But is this...
  15. Armando Valle

    I I cannot figure out what I saw in this picture, help me

    Hi everyone, 2 days ago at 10am in Monterrey Mexico i looked at the sky and saw this strange lights, and i want to know what are they. Can some astronomer help me figure out what are they? Note: These things are not product of the lens of the camera, i saw them with my own eyes. My deduction is...
  16. S

    I Propagator operator in Heinsenberg picture

    Hello! I read that in Heisenberg picture the propagator from x to y is given by ##<0|\phi(x)\phi(y)|0>##, where ##\phi## is the Klein-Gordon field. I am not sure I understand why. I tried to prove it like this: ##|x>=\phi(x,0)|0>## and after applying the time evolution operator we have...
  17. A

    Quantum mechanics - Heisenberg picture

    Homework Statement We consider the O2- molecule, with the Hamiltonian and position operator having matrix representations in terms of the Pauli matrices: In the Heisenberg picture, the position operator is: (1) Find the eigenvalues and eigenstates of x(t) at time t=pi*hbar/(4A) (2) The...
  18. Edward Barrow

    I Would the rogue planet in this picture slow Earths spin?

    The following picture shows a rogue planet (in purple) approaching Earth (in blue). It is spinning prograde like Earth. We're talking about a close approach. For example a planet the size of the moon approaching within 12,000km of Earth. That would be just outside the roche limit. I presume the...
  19. BillTre

    Picture of Directionally Selective Retinal Ganglion Cells

    Found this today: Here is a very cool picture of directionally selective retinal ganglion cells (go from the retina in the eye to the lateral geniculate (or optic tectum) in the brain). These cells are asymmetrical and only detect movement going up in the visual field. I think the different...
  20. G

    Textbook picture: Is direction of this eddy current wrong?

    Hi. This is from a high school textbook, in a chapter about eddy currents and Lenz's law. In a), a magnetic field is turned on, in b) it's turned off, which both induces a current in a suspended aluminium ring: I think the direction of the current is wrong in both pictures. Any opinions?
  21. Bayoudh101

    Can i get a mathematical function out of this picture?

    i am working for a small project at home , and for it i am using an infra red sensor . which returns a voltage value relative to distance . this picture describes the output : (given by the datasheet) : (the picture is highly precise) now all of the distances that i will be getting are...
  22. B

    Why does the picture on my videos not keep up with the audio

    I frequently download videos from youtube onto Real Player on my laptop. Lately, when I have played videos on Real Player, the picture of the video on my laptop's monitor will freeze for 10 or 15 seconds, but the audio keeps playing normally. Then after 10 or 15 seconds of my picture being...
  23. SamRoss

    B Is it possible to visualize the big bang?

    I've never been able to visualize the big bang and my hubris is now leading me to believe it must be impossible. A line in "A Universe from Nothing" talks about how if you look far enough away, since you're looking into the past, you could theoretically see the big bang. I get that; I just can't...
  24. Jimster41

    Picture of "Gravity waves" and Sprites on weather.com

    This has to be a mistake right or just wacko. Not the sprites (which are awesome) but the reference to "gravity waves". I love spaceweather.site but those sure aren't gravity waves? http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=129854&PHPSESSID=pokk9dgvl9o46qaq17rq1jbms6
  25. P

    Intro Physics Getting a picture of the whole of physics

    This is a difficult task but it's my reason for studying physics. I'm a physics undergrad. I want , really badly، to get a picture of the development of the whole of physics and math up to this point. From the earliest thinkers who tried to put the world of experience into mathematical...
  26. lsepolis123

    In discrete Math Adv Counting Techniques - see picture - h

    how to solve exercise (34) in discrete Math Adv Counting Techniques - see picture===> how apply the formula?
  27. T

    I I'm having trouble seeing the big picture of this proof.

    I don't see how it proves that (n-r+1, r) is the number of r-combinations of X which contain no consecutive integers.
  28. L

    What´s the optical effect happening in this picture?

    Hi, I was watching a tv show and I found an optical phenomenon that puzzled me. I´d say it´s related with the bokeh produced in the out of focus range, but I still can´t figure it out. I guess what makes it so weird is that the effect happens in relation with an object in the foreground (infront...
  29. min_oh

    I Where are the four muons in this picture

    Hi all.It is picture of simulation for higgs decays into four muons. Im wondering which track line is four muon. My guess is four thick yellow line at right-bottom side of the picture cuase it looks energetic. Am i right? Or any other opinion? Thanks alot Min
  30. Q

    I Interpret Heisenberg Picture: Operators & States

    Can anybody give a natural interpretation of operators and states in the Heisenberg Picture? When I imagine particles flying through space, it seems that the properties of the particles are changing, rather than the position property itself. Is there any way I should be thinking about these...
  31. H

    Does anyone know what this picture on an AP Physics t-shirt means?

    I found this picture on an AP Physics t-shirt years ago and always wanted to know what it meant. Thanks. https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=928629337173584&id=100000795784980&set=a.159337417436117.23735.100000795784980&source=48
  32. Victor Lee

    Stargazing Does Our Picture of the Universe Become Less Accurate the Farther We Look?

    I'm not sure if this has already been discussed, but does our picture of the universe become less and less accurate the farther we look? By farther I mean light years away, when we concentrate our telescopes to a certain area light years away, could we be looking at a star that we aren't seeing...
  33. kq6up

    I Feynman Lecture Vol III Ch. 8 Question -- Heisenberg matrix picture

    Is the Hamiltonian matrix that is constructed in Ch 8 of the Feynman lectures the Heisenberg matrix picture, or is it something else? I am just curious. Thanks, Chris Maness
  34. H

    General-Electric GEnx turbofan engine picture label request

    Hi! I am a student who is passionate about engines and mechanics (although the major I'm pursuing is CS.I believe we must not inhibit our intellectual curiosity). The following link will take you to the picture of an uncovered General Electric Next Generation Turbofan engine used by the 787...
  35. K

    A Time correlation of an observable in the Schrödinger picture

    This has come up in a number of threads, so I made this thread to talk about it. I think that an interpretation of this in the Schrödinger picture should be possible at least in the style of Feynman. This would go something like this. ##\begin{eqnarray*} \langle A(s)A(t)\rangle_\psi &=&...
  36. Armando Valle

    I Can someone explain this picture to me?

    can someone explain me this quantum equations picture with the circles and Feynman diagram? what with the circles?
  37. atyy

    Can decoherence be formulated in the Heisenberg picture?

    In another thread, stevendaryl and I were trying to understand whether MWI can be formulated in the Heisenberg picture. Since neither of us really understands MWI, I tried to retreat to safer ground by asking: Can decoherence be formulated in the Heisenberg picture?
  38. N

    Transverse waves and the movement of particles

    Homework Statement Alright, this problem has been driving me into a confused rage. The wave is moving in an upward direction so particle A should be moving up as well, right? But every single website I've used to study claims that it's moving in a downward direction. How? Homework...
  39. zonde

    Photon energy in Heisenberg picture

    I would like to ask a quick (I suppose) question. Does a photon have definite energy in Heisenberg picture? My motivation for this question comes from reading that Hamitonian is generator of time evolution. But in Heisenberg picture time evolution is associated with operator not quantum system...
  40. T

    E=mc^2 how you picture it in nature?

    When you close your eyes and visualize E=mc2 in nature without math, what images do you see? I always saw the Hiroshima mushroom cloud, but after reading your posts, I agree bombs are not the right image when introducing concept to kids. 1. I now see star core nuclear fusion of hydrogen into...
  41. D

    Instantaneous eigenstates in the Heisenberg picture

    I'm a bit confused as to what is meant by instantaneous eigenstates in the Heisenberg picture. Does it simply mean that if vectors in the corresponding Hilbert space are eigenstates of some operator, then they won't necessarily be so for all times ##t##, the eigenstates of the operator will...
  42. Armando Valle

    Can someone explain me this Quantum Picture?

    I found this picture on a t-shirt i saw in a store, please someone help me know what does it means
  43. P

    Diffraction of red LED light picture with spots

    I would like to know what the dots are. This reminds me of X-ray diffraction, but I am imaging a sphere of liquid on the end of a microcapillary nozzle (2um inner diameter glass nozzle with sputtered gold outer coating on nozzle). I am taking a picture of a small glass nozzle with a metal...
  44. A

    What causes the green penumbra in this picture?

    I exposed a black bottle cap by two light sources ( LEDs), one source is white and the other one is red as in the picture. I noticed that one penumbra toward the red light source is reddish in color which makes sense because this area is only exposed to the red source. What makes a puzzle is the...
  45. M

    [Magnetic Flux and Lenz's Law] Is this picture correct?

    Is the arrow of the ammeter pointing in the correct direction? The induced current is going through the positive end of the ammeter and out of the negative end. Since current is traveling towards the positive end of the ammeter, shouldn't the ammeter point towards the negative direction?
  46. kelvin490

    Problem of plotting picture and video in Linux HPC

    I have a Matlab program that reads data file and then create avi. files and tiff pictures. It runs without problem in window OS using R2014a but cannot run in a Linux high performance computer(HPC). When the Matlab in Linux is started there are two warnings: Warning: No display specified. You...
  47. Borek

    Need a picture - Colossal Cave Adventure on the terminal

    Yeah, rather strange thing. I am writing an article about Colossal Cave Adventure for the PIXEL magazine. This is a cult game, no doubt about it. Problem is, its original version was written for TTY terminals, so there is no graphics nor screenshots that could be used to illustrate the article...
  48. Iconoclast

    B A circle in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field picture?

    I was analyzing the Hubble Ultra Deep field image and I realized that if you look at the image from a certain distance from your monitor, you can notice there is a ring of galaxies, forming a circle. The following are the HUDF image and an image where I try to show where I see the circle (it is...
  49. M

    How does the physics work inside a vape tank? Picture included

    How does the physics in a vape tank work? Specifically, if I closed the airflow off and sucked from the top wouldn't it increase the pressure inside of the tank and allow the liquid to soak the cotton? http://imgur.com/7bZcdRI That may help confusion. I do not know physics terms.
  50. F

    Interaction picture - time evolution operator

    Hey all, I got some question referring to the interaction picture. For example: I have the Hamiltonian ##H=sum_k w_k b_k^\dagger b_k + V(t)=H1+V(t)## When I would now have a time evolution operator: ##T exp(-i * int(H+V))##. (where T is the time ordering operator) How can I transform it...
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