What is COBOL-CASE?
COBOL-CASE is a naming convention where words are separated by hyphens and all letters are uppercase. It's named after the COBOL programming language where this style is the standard for variable and procedure names.
Examples:
CUSTOMER-NAME
TOTAL-AMOUNT
PROCESS-RECORD
FILE-STATUSWhen to Use COBOL-CASE
- COBOL Programming: Variable names, paragraph names, section names
- Legacy Systems: Maintaining consistency in older codebases
- Mainframe Applications: IBM mainframe development
- Database Fields: Some legacy database naming conventions
- Configuration Files: Legacy system configurations
- Documentation: When documenting COBOL systems
Examples in COBOL
COBOL Variable Declaration:
01 CUSTOMER-RECORD.
05 CUSTOMER-ID PIC 9(6).
05 CUSTOMER-NAME PIC X(30).
05 ACCOUNT-BALANCE PIC 9(8)V99.COBOL Procedure:
CALCULATE-TOTAL-AMOUNT.
ADD ITEM-PRICE TO TOTAL-PRICE.
ADD 1 TO ITEM-COUNT.
IF TOTAL-PRICE > MAX-AMOUNT
PERFORM ERROR-HANDLING.File Names:
SELECT CUSTOMER-FILE
ASSIGN TO "CUSTFILE.DAT"
FILE STATUS IS FILE-STATUS-CODE.COBOL-CASE vs Other Cases
COBOL-CASE: CUSTOMER-NAME - Uppercase with hyphens
CONSTANT_CASE: CUSTOMER_NAME - Uppercase with underscores
kebab-case: customer-name - Lowercase with hyphens
Train-Case: Customer-Name - Capitalized with hyphens
Best Practices
- ✓ Use when working with COBOL codebases
- ✓ Maintain consistency in legacy systems
- ✓ Follow established COBOL naming conventions
- ✓ Use descriptive names despite length
- ✗ Don't use in modern programming languages
- ✗ Avoid in new projects unless interfacing with COBOL