Also known as Programming Language for Business, PL/B is a business-oriented programming language designed for Datapoint Corporation in 1972.
Datapoint produced the Datapoint 2200, which some historians credit as being the first personal computer, the first units shipping in 1971. Originally known as DATABUS, the language was designed as an alternative to COBOL because the 8-bit Datapoint couldn't fit COBOL into its limited memory, and because COBOL didn't have the facilities to deal with the Datapoint's built-in keyboard and screen.
Datapoint Corporation grew rapidly and was a Fortune 500 company by the early 1980s. However, the company then went into a decline, culminating a corporate takeover in the mid-1980s and bankruptcy in 2000, after which the company was broken up into three entities.
While DATABUS had been proprietary software, Datapoint refused to release its trademark on the DATABUS name when it ceased development of the product. Its continued development has been under the name of Programming Language for Business or, as it is more commonly known, PL/B.
PL/B has grown into a powerful business programming language. It is considered to be easy to learn and has the power to support today's interactive shared-data environments. Several companies are developing compilers, interpreters, translators, and CASE tools for the language.
PL/B is a third-generation programming language, like C, COBOL, and Fortran. It is also an ANSI standard language. While COBOL is a more popular business language than PL/B, there are strengths and weaknesses to both. PL/B is capable of supporting multiuser environments, simultaneous share-data access, support for highly interactive character mode keyboard and screen handling, and powerful data storage and retrieval mechanisms, well beyond most COBOL products.
All PL/B vendors support these features. The Technical Committee J15 has developed the ANSI Standard for the PL/B programming language, which is supported by at least nine independent companies developing PL/B products.
Similar to Java and .NET, PL/B programs are compiled into an intermediate bytecode, which is then interpreted by a runtime library. Because of this, many PL/B programs can run in DOS, Linux, Unix, and Windows operating environments. The PL/B development environments are influenced by Java and Visual Basic, offering many of the same features.
Major implementations of the language are DATABUS, DB/C, DX, and PL/B.
By whatever name, the PL/B language, its implementations, and versions, are the focus of topics in this category, along with any IDEs, editors, compilers, or other tools designed to facilitate PL/B programming. Tutorials, guides, user groups, and forums focused on the language are also appropriate in this category.
Recommended Resources
DB/C is an implementation of the PL/B programming language. DB/C Software’s flagship products are DB/C DX and DB/C FS, which may be purchased, downloaded, and uploaded through its site. DB/C DX is an application development tool for the DB/C language, based on the ANSI PL/B standard, while DB/C FS is a two-tier SQL and file server software product, providing SQL and traditional file access to DB/C ISAM, AIM, random, and sequential files.
https://www.dbcsoftware.com/
Since 1988, Infopro has chaired the Accredited Standards Committee X3J15 Technical Committee, which maintains the ANSI standard for the PL/B programming language and has provided leadership to the PL/B community in several ways, such as sponsoring PL/B user group meetings and conferences. Its products include Systemaker, GuideMaker, CorrTrack, and CorrFlow, and its site features references and information about the PL/B programming language.
http://www.sysmaker.com/
Founded as a mainframe and mid-range software and consulting firm, MMCC participated in the ANSI X3-J15 committee to standardize DATABUS, now known as PL/B, the second standard business computer language. A PL/B vendor, MMCC is in cooperation with Sunbelt Computer Systems, one of the first to implement a Windows version of the language. Its site includes an introduction and history of the development of the language, a download page, and packaged solutions.
http://www.mmcctech.com/
Established in 1990, Sunbelt Computer Software was created to design, develop, and maintain computer languages and tools. Its first in-house project was MacDATABUS, a PL/B language system for Mac. The following year, Sunbelt developed a Windows-based version and, in 2016, the company developed the PlbWebCli applications, available on Android, iOS, and Windows 10. The site features a profile of the company, the language, its products, pricing, and support options.
https://sunbelt-plb.com/
