COBOL If ever there was a language that comes close to matching the more notorious aspects of C, COBOL is the most likely culprit. Coming about in the same era

COBOL If ever there was a language that comes close to matching the more notorious aspects of C, COBOL is the most likely culprit. Coming about in the same era as the venerable FORTRAN, the two languages together ran on mainframes everywhere in the early days to mung through endless business data, speeding up calculations previously done by hand, all in the name of "the greater good". However, while their early goals were the same, FORTRAN opted for a bit more structured, concise approach, using strongly typed vars and adopting a few of the newer ideas along the way. COBOL, however, remained reliant upon horribly verbose incantations, and refused to cease use of unforgivable spells such as "goto". FORTRAN went on to be a venerable, yet eccentric language regarded to this day as fastest in some of the more arcane calculations after so many years past its prime. COBOL, however, has for its crimes been largely ridiculed and its practice considered one of the darkest of magics. It has been relegated to the proverbial jail tower, its practitioners shunned. The famous wizard Djikstra once stated "The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense." COBOL is Grindelwald, a crippled old relic rotting away in long forgotten mainframes.