From Relic to Relevance: COBOL’s 88-Level Fields for Modern Coders

Luke Zeisset COBOL, Modernization, Programming, Tutorial Leave a Comment

Remember when blockchain was going to change everything? Now AI is the trend dominating every conversationโ€”but some of the most effective programming ideas have been around for decades. This post examines one of COBOLโ€™s lesser-known yet highly practical features: the 88-level field. Far more than a simple boolean, 88-level fields provide a clear, maintainable way to describe data conditions, enforce business rules, and streamline initialization. Through real-world examples, youโ€™ll see how this feature can reduce complexity, eliminate hard-coded values, and make logic more expressiveโ€”demonstrating that sometimes proven tools from โ€œoldโ€ languages still have lessons worth applying today.