---
title: "Common Business Communication Language"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Business_Communication_Language"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T11:31:51.147438+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The Common Business Communication Language (CBCL) is a communications language proposed by John McCarthy that foreshadowed much of XML. The language consists of a basic framework of hierarchical markup derived from S-expressions, coupled with some general principles about use and extensibility. Although written in 1975, the proposal was not published until 1982, and to this day remains relatively obscure.


== References ==


== External links ==
John McCarthy's original CBCL proposal, webified and with a 1998 appendix considering some of the then-current work going on with XML and other communications languages.