Programming Language for Business

Programming Language for Business
Paradigm	Procedural, imperative
First appeared	1972
Typing discipline	Strong, static
Filename extensions	.rl, .ps, .cb, .pls, .pgm
Major implementations
	DB/C DX, DATABUS, and PL/B
Influenced by
	COBOL

Programming Language for Business or PL/B is a business-oriented programming language originally called DATABUS and designed by Datapoint in 1972^[2] as an alternative to COBOL because Datapoint's 8-bit computers could not fit COBOL into their limited memory, and because COBOL did not at the time have facilities to deal with Datapoint's built-in keyboard and screen.

A version of DATABUS became an ANSI standard, and the name PL/B came about when Datapoint chose not to release its trademark on the DATABUS name.^[3]^[4]

Functionality

Much like Java and .NET, PL/B programs are compiled into an intermediate byte-code, which is then interpreted by a runtime library. Because of this, many PL/B programs can run on DOS, Unix, Linux, and Windows operating systems.^[5] PL/B (Databus) is actively used all over the world, and has several forums on the Internet dedicated to supporting software developers.^{[citation needed]}

PL/B has a database capability built-in with ISAM and Associative Hashed Indexes,^[5] as well as functionality for working with ODBC, SQL, Oracle,^[6] sequential, random access, XML and JSON files.^[7]

PL/B also has the ability to access external routines through COM objects, DLLs and .NET assemblies. Full access to the .NET framework is built into many versions.^{[citation needed]}

Several implementations of the language are capable of running as an Application Server like Citrix, and connecting to remote databases through a data manager.^{[citation needed]}

Source code example

        IF (DF_EDIT[ITEM] = "PHYS")
           STATESAVE MYSTATE
           IF (C_F07B != 2)
              DISPLAY   *SETSWALL 1:1:1:80:
                        *BGCOLOR=2,*COLOR=15:
                        *P49:1," 7-Find "
           ELSE
              DISPLAY   *SETSWALL 1:1:1:80:
                        *BGCOLOR=7,*COLOR=0:
                        *P49:1," 7-Find "
           ENDIF
           STATEREST MYSTATE
           TRAP      GET_PRO NORESET IF F7
        ENDIF
        IF (SHOW_FILTER AND THIS_FILTER AND C_CUSTNO <> "MAG")
           LOADMOD   "filter"
           PACK      PASS_ID WITH "QED     ",QED_ID1,BLANKS
           MOVE      " FILTER DISPLAY (F6)        " TO PASS_DESC
           SET C_BIGFLT
           CALL      RUN_FILT USING PASS_ID,PASS_DESC,"432"
           UNLOAD    "filter"
           CLEAR     THIS_FILTER
        ENDIF