The Howdy Glossary

PL/I, or Programming Language One, was developed by IBM in the late 1960s with the goal of creating a versatile programming language suitable for engineering, scientific, and business domains. By integrating features from existing languages such as COBOL, Fortran, and ALGOL, PL/I aimed to offer a unified solution capable of handling diverse tasks within various industries. This comprehensive approach allowed it to serve complex software systems efficiently while maintaining ease of use and readability.

Despite its decline in popularity with the advent of newer languages, PL/I continues to be used in legacy systems within certain large corporations and government agencies. Its ability to incorporate structured programming elements further enhanced its capability to create organized and efficient code. Over time, PL/I has evolved through standards maintained by industry groups like ANSI and ISO, ensuring it remained relevant and adaptable even as technological demands shifted.

One distinguishing feature of PL/I is its broad applicability across different sectors compared to other specialized languages like COBOL for business data processing or Fortran for scientific computing. This versatility meant developers could address multiple types of tasks without switching between specialized languages. Moreover, combining features from established languages provided extensive capabilities such as advanced data manipulation and support for complex computations. These attributes made PL/I an attractive option for organizations seeking a unified programming framework suitable for varied application needs across engineering, scientific research, and business operations.