<s>
COMTRAN	B-Language
(	O
COMmercial	B-Language
TRANslator	I-Language
)	O
is	O
an	O
early	O
programming	O
language	O
developed	O
at	O
IBM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
intended	O
as	O
the	O
business	O
programming	O
equivalent	O
of	O
the	O
scientific	O
programming	O
language	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
(	O
FORmula	B-Application
TRANslator	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
served	O
as	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
forerunners	O
to	O
the	O
COBOL	B-Application
language	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Developed	O
by	O
Bob	O
Bemer	O
,	O
in	O
1957	O
,	O
the	O
language	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
to	O
feature	O
the	O
programming	O
language	O
element	O
known	O
as	O
a	O
picture	B-Language
clause	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
elements	O
of	O
COMTRAN	B-Language
were	O
incorporated	O
into	O
COBOL	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
Picture	B-Language
clause	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Passing	O
a	O
numeric	O
value	O
(	O
)	O
back	O
to	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
when	O
the	O
program	O
terminates	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
picture	B-Language
clause	I-Language
element	O
defines	O
how	O
a	O
particular	O
data	O
item	O
should	O
be	O
formatted	O
,	O
for	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
format	O
specifier	O
seen	O
in	O
the	O
READ	O
and	O
WRITE	O
statements	O
,	O
or	O
the	O
formatting	O
strings	O
seen	O
in	O
more	O
modern	O
languages	O
like	O
C	O
.	O
This	O
became	O
an	O
important	O
part	O
of	O
COBOL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
a	O
sample	O
COMTRAN	B-Language
program	O
,	O
doing	O
payroll	O
calculations	O
.	O
</s>
