Editing DIBOL

{{Infobox programming language
| name = DIBOL
| paradigm = [[procedural programming|procedural]], [[Imperative programming language|imperative]], [[structured programming|structured]]
| year = 1970
| developer = [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]]
| latest_release_version = DIBOL 1992
| latest_release_date = 2002
| typing = [[Type system#Static type-checking|static]]
| implementations = DEC DIBOL, Synergex DBL, Unibol
| dialects = 
| influenced_by = [[BASIC]], [[Fortran]], [[COBOL]]
| influenced = 
| website = 
}}

'''DIBOL''' or '''Digital's Business Oriented Language''' is a [[General-purpose programming language|general-purpose]], [[Procedural programming languages|procedural]], [[imperative programming language]] that was designed for use in [[Management Information Systems]] (MIS) software development. It was developed from 1970 to 1993.

DIBOL has a syntax similar to [[FORTRAN]] and [[BASIC programming language|BASIC]], along with [[Binary-coded decimal|BCD]] arithmetic. It shares the [[COBOL]] program structure of separate data and procedure divisions. Unlike Fortran's numeric labels (for GOTO), DIBOL's were alphanumeric;<ref>{{cite magazine  |magazine=DEC Professional |date=November 1982 |page=70
|title=Dibol Subroutine}}</ref> the language supported a counterpart to computed goto.<ref>example:
GOTO(XSMALL,XMED,XLARG),XCODE {{cite magazine  |magazine=DEC Professional |date=November 1982
|author=J. Scott Canfield |pages=18–20 |title=DIBOL, Data Entry Subroutine}}</ref>

==History==
DIBOL was originally marketed by [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] (DEC) in 1970.

The original version, DIBOL-8, was produced for [[PDP-8]] systems running [[Commercial Operating System (COS)|COS-300]]. The PDP-8-like [[DECmate II]], supports the COS-310 Commercial Operating System, featuring DIBOL.<ref name="snyder198306">{{cite news|url = https://archive.org/details/dibol_pro_tool_kit_v10|title = Introduction to DIBOL-83. Digital Equipment Corporation.|date = April 1984}}</ref>

DIBOL-11 was developed for the [[PDP-11]] running COS-350 operating system. It also ran on RSX-11, RT-11, and from 1978 on [[RSTS/E]]. DIBOL-32 runs on [[OpenVMS|VMS]] systems,<ref name=Hardcopy.May82>{{cite magazine |magazine=Hardcopy
   |title=New Implementation of Dibol for VAX by DEC |date=May 1982  |page=17}}</ref> although it can also be used on other systems through [[emulator]]s.

[[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] Standards were released in 1983, 1988 and 1992 (ANSI X3.165-1992). The 1992 standard was revised in 2002.

DIBOL compilers were developed by several other companies, including [[Synergy DBL|DBL]] from DISC (later Synergex), Softbol from Omtool,<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=w3IudMVoEusC|title = Computerworld|last = Enterprise|first = I. D. G.|date = 1985-10-07|publisher = IDG Enterprise|page = 66|language = en}}</ref> and Unibol from Software Ireland, Ltd.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MmR2XHzI9yoC|title = AT&T unwraps applications packages for 3B series|last = Babcock|first = Charles|date = 1985-09-30|work = ComputerWorld|publisher = IDG Enterprise|page = 28|language = en}}</ref> Development of DIBOL effectively ceased after 1993, when an agreement between DEC and DISC replaced DIBOL with [[Synergy DBL|DBL]] on [[OpenVMS]], [[Digital UNIX]], and [[SCO Unix]].<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DISC+ANNOUNCES+NEW+DIBOL+STRATE%20%20GY+IN+ASSOCIATION+WITH+DIGITAL-a013115705|title = DISC ANNOUNCES NEW DIBOL STRATEGY IN ASSOCIATION WITH DIGITAL|website = www.thefreelibrary.com|access-date = 2016-04-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=%28area%20software%20firm%20gets%20dec%20contract%29%20AND%20date%281993%29&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=1993&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=%28%22area%20software%20firm%20gets%20dec%20contract%22%29&xcal_numdocs=50&p_perpage=25&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no)|title = Area Software Firm Gets DEC Contract|date = February 18, 1993|work = The Sacramento Bee}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Timeline of programming languages]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Reading==
* {{cite book |author=American National Standards Institute |author-link=ANSI |author2=[[Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association]] ([[CBEMA]]) |title=American National Standard for Information Systems- Programming Language, DIBOL |year=1988 |publisher=[[American National Standards Institute]] |location=New York, NY|oclc=23056850 }}
* {{cite book |author=American National Standards Institute |author-link=ANSI |author2=Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA) |title=American National Standard for Information Systems- Programming Language, DIBOL |year=1992 |publisher=American National Standards Institute |location=New York, NY|oclc=27058852 }}

{{Digital Equipment Corporation}}

[[Category:Procedural programming languages]]
[[Category:OpenVMS software]]
[[Category:Programming languages created in 1970]]
[[Category:Programming languages]]
[[Category:Digital Equipment Corporation]]