COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) is a high-level programming language primarily used for business, finance, and administrative systems within companies and governments. It is particularly useful for handling large-scale, data-centric applications in areas such as accounting, payroll, inventory management, and other business-related tasks. COBOL is known for its readability and ease of use, making it suitable for professionals working on applications that require extensive data processing and business logic. Despite being an older language, COBOL continues to be used in many legacy systems, especially in industries where stability and reliability are paramount.

The language considered the "foundation stone" for teaching languages like FORTRAN, ALGOL, PASCAL, and many others is ALGOL (Algorithmic Language). ALGOL was a significant early programming language that influenced the design of subsequent programming languages, providing important concepts and structures used in the development of languages like FORTRAN, PASCAL, and C. While BASIC is also a widely used beginner-friendly programming language, ALGOL had a substantial impact on the development of programming language theory and design.

Parsing, in high-level language transformation, is the analysis of code syntax using formal grammar rules. It checks for errors and creates a parse tree representing the code's structure. This tree guides the generation of machine code or program execution, ensuring correct interpretation and execution of the source code.