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COBOL

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  • C Chris Maunder

    Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

    cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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    Rama Krishna Vavilala
    wrote on last edited by
    #22

    I interfaced with COBOL in one of the projects to interface with a legacy AS400 based system. I did not have to understand the full program, just the data formats and the job got done with little googling.

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    • C Chris Losinger

      i spent last year translating a COBOL system into C++. it was quite an experience! it has a crazy mix of BASIC-like high level built-in stuff and C-like low level structures/unions/data type munging. plus, variable aliases are pure evil.

      image processing toolkits | batch image processing

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      Nagy Vilmos
      wrote on last edited by
      #23

      Chris Losinger wrote:

      a crazy mix of BASIC-like high level built-in stuff and C-like low level structures/unions/data type munging

      I've played that crazy shyte in the past. I think 92/93 was the last COBOL I did in anger and maybe 98/99 looking at it to find out WTF it was doing.


      Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett

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      • R Reiss

        My first proper job involved writing COBOL on an AS/400 - god I'm feeling old :((

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        Nagy Vilmos
        wrote on last edited by
        #24

        I was a vet of three campaigns when I started AS/400 but it was deved under RPG


        Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett

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        • C Chris Maunder

          Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

          cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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          RugbyLeague
          wrote on last edited by
          #25

          My first programming job was writing COBOL on a TI-990. It was COBOL 74 so didn't even have END-IF

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          • C Chris Meech

            Chris Losinger wrote:

            plus, variable aliases are pure evil.

            Is that in reference to COBOL's magical 88 Levels? :)

            Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]

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            Chris Losinger
            wrote on last edited by
            #26

            yep.

            77 try-mid value 'n' pic x.
            88 try-mid-n value 'n'.
            88 try-mid-y value 'y'.

            oh, you mean:

            bool try_mid;

            ?

            image processing toolkits | batch image processing

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            • C Chris Maunder

              Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

              cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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              Gregory Gadow
              wrote on last edited by
              #27

              I got my current job 17 years ago because I knew COBOL. The company's minicomputer (yes, it was a 1980s Rand-McNally mini) used a non-relational Informix database interfaced using RM-COBOL applets and a job control language from Hell. I was the only one of 11 people they interviewed who admitted to knowing the language. I haven't done COBOL since 1999, when our entire system was replaced by MS-SQL and a VB front end as part of our regulatory upgrade for Y2K.

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              • N Nemanja Trifunovic

                Not me, but I personally know five people who actively develop for IBM mainframes with languages such as COBOL, PL/I and Rexx. Three of them are at Verizon, one is a consultant and one works in a Swiss bank. I also know a guy wo was a RPG developer until recently and then decided to become a real estate agent :)

                utf8-cpp

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                Gary Wheeler
                wrote on last edited by
                #28

                Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:

                PL/I

                I wrote PL/I back in college. We used Digital Research PL/I-80 on CP/M systems in our computer graphics labs. Our high resolution displays (which cost the school about $10K apiece, at 1980 prices) were 256x192x8 colors.

                Software Zen: delete this;

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                • D DaveAuld

                  Your not thinking of writing the code behind for CodeProject using NetCobol for .Net are you? http://www.netcobol.com/products/Fujitsu-NetCOBOL-for-.NET/overview[^]

                  Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn


                  Folding Stats: Team CodeProject

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                  Gary Wheeler
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #29

                  All of the hamsters involved in handling your post have just spontaneously combusted.

                  Software Zen: delete this;

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                  • C Chris Losinger

                    yep.

                    77 try-mid value 'n' pic x.
                    88 try-mid-n value 'n'.
                    88 try-mid-y value 'y'.

                    oh, you mean:

                    bool try_mid;

                    ?

                    image processing toolkits | batch image processing

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                    Chris Meech
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #30

                    That's one example of their use. I used to use them a lot for "bit-wise" enumeration.

                    15 ws-field-attr pic 9 comp.
                    88 underscore value 1.
                    88 blink value 2.
                    88 protected value 4.

                    And in some code there would be

                    move hdr-field-def to ws-field-attr.
                    if underscore Perform AddUnderscoreEscapeToBuffer.
                    if bink Perform AddBlinkEscapeToBuffer.
                    if protected Perform AddProtectedEscapeToBuffer.

                    They allowed for pretty imaginative ways of writing truly readable code. :) [Edit] That code is probably not quite right, but it's the best I can do from memory since I'm only a couple of years away from retirement. :)

                    Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]

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                    • N Nagy Vilmos

                      'Probably' interfacing to a COBOL system 'somewhere'. Our app communicates to everything via FIX and so for all I know there's a COBOL system out there, somewhere, talking ot us. :~


                      Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett

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                      Ian Shlasko
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #31

                      Same here... I think our AS/400 accounting system is COBOL, but I reach it through HTTP/XML queries... But back in the 90s, I did spend part of a summer teaching an old COBOL programmer transition to VB...

                      Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
                      Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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                      • C Chris Maunder

                        Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                        cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                        drolfson
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #32

                        Used to. Changed companies, but not for that reason. ;) Anyone here who works at HP and interfaces with the VISTA system, you fit within the category being discussed. (They been trying to kill that old AS/400 since Compaq inherited it in 2000.)

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                        • N Nemanja Trifunovic

                          Not me, but I personally know five people who actively develop for IBM mainframes with languages such as COBOL, PL/I and Rexx. Three of them are at Verizon, one is a consultant and one works in a Swiss bank. I also know a guy wo was a RPG developer until recently and then decided to become a real estate agent :)

                          utf8-cpp

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                          Member 96
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #33

                          Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:

                          wo was a RPG developer until recently

                          Holy blast from the past. I actually learned a little RPG many many years ago, never did find a use for it though, or COBOL.


                          There is no failure only feedback

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                          • N NormDroid

                            Almost as bad as the vascetomy, but hey that's another story ;)

                            Software Kinetics Wear a hard hat it's under construction
                            Metro RSS

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                            Jim Crafton
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #34

                            Well if the vasectomy broke your heart, I'd strongly urge you to seek alternate medical services. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it's supposed to work.

                            ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow

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                            • C Chris Maunder

                              Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                              cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                              Jeremy Hutchinson
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #35

                              I just met a guy who is working for a company that wrote an application that ports COBOL code to Azure!!! Talk about working the full spectrum.

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                              • C Chris Maunder

                                Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                                cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                Roger Wright
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #36

                                Eeewww! I tried COBOL exactly once, in college. Ten lines (cards) of code, 106 lines of preamble, 157 error messages, and not one of the computer center experts could find a single error in my program. Never again... X|

                                Will Rogers never met me.

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                                • H Henry Minute

                                  My first programming gig was COBOL for a Sunny Canadian insurance company, Haven't touched it since though.

                                  Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

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                                  QuiJohn
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #37

                                  Henry Minute wrote:

                                  My first programming gig was COBOL for a Sunny Canadian insurance company,

                                  Very similar to your vaporators in most respects.

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                                  • C Chris Maunder

                                    Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                                    cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                    Soulus83
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #38

                                    And just today a coworker that somehow shares department with us (she is administrative staff, administrative as in "secretary") got all excited because after 2 years of requesting career change, she is finally transferred to dev, guess in charge of what? you got it, ticket support for the old-as-dinosaurs system which is written in COBOL. Of course, she was all excited about it and came running to tell us...to be brought to earth by our straight faces telling her, COBOL has been dead since 20 years ago... Sadly enough, some of the guys of the corner, to whom no one talks to, grabbed her and say they are the COBOL experts in the company...as they still develop and maintain systems, and that they'd be her teachers... :wtf:

                                    "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--either way, you are right." — Henry Ford "When I waste my time, I only use the best, Code Project...don't leave home without it." — Slacker007

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                                    • R Roger Wright

                                      Eeewww! I tried COBOL exactly once, in college. Ten lines (cards) of code, 106 lines of preamble, 157 error messages, and not one of the computer center experts could find a single error in my program. Never again... X|

                                      Will Rogers never met me.

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                                      Steve Mayfield
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #39

                                      You either left out a period (one of my missing '.'s generated over 1000 error messages) or maybe a blank card between the source code and the link instructions (done that too - CDC 3150 mainframe) :rolleyes:

                                      Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

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                                      • C Chris Maunder

                                        Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                                        cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                        Tim Deveaux
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #40

                                        Received a listing last week for an opening at a large Canadian bank - they want essentially 6+ years exp in 'mainframe MVS, COBOL, JCL Utilities, and databases such as DB 2 and IMS'. For a 4 month contract. :| Not quite my skill set - will pass on to anyone who wants. and yeah I did a little COBOL in school - and actually liked it kinda - don't tell anybuddy ok?

                                        This sig no verb.

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                                        • C Chris Maunder

                                          Chris Meech's post[^] piqued my interest because I've been talking to a few guys lately, on the quiet so as not to bust their cover, who do COBOL. So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                                          cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                          David Crow
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #41

                                          Chris Maunder wrote:

                                          So it got me wondering: who's doing COBOL directly, or at the least, interfacing with COBOL modules or back end systems?

                                          My company has a few products that use a mixture of COBOL and RPG.

                                          "One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

                                          "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

                                          "Some people are making such thorough preparation for rainy days that they aren't enjoying today's sunshine." - William Feather

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