Is COBOL still relevant?
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Any reason why? I thought it was well balanced and made some good points.
I am not going to read the article because in my mind anyone still promoting something that is clearly dead is akin to the the conspiracy theorist. Nagy has enunciated it well - COBOL lives in legacy code and will die when all the aging practitioners die.
Peter Wasser Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa
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Agreed. The article acknowledges that. That statement is my personal opinion. It is the perceived wisdom of many people. Read the article.
Member 4246474 wrote:
We all know COBOL is a dying language
Member 4246474 wrote:
That statement is my personal opinion.
But you make it sound like it's everyones opinion (at least everyone at Codeproject). I don't think it's more dying than you or me, we'll eventually die but hopefully not in the near future. I think it's the same weith Cobol, it'll still be around for a long time. So in essence you right, Cobol will die but it'll take a long time doing so. I'd wager C# is dead before Cobol though.
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People have been saying that COBOL was dying since I started in IT in 1985, and probably earlier than that! To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail "Bring out yer dead. Here's one. That'll be ninepence. I'm not dead. What? Nothing. There's your ninepence. I'm not dead. 'Ere, he says he's not dead. Yes he is. I'm not. He isn't. Well, he will be soon, he's very ill. I'm getting better. No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment."
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
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Member 4246474 wrote:
We all know COBOL is a dying language
Member 4246474 wrote:
That statement is my personal opinion.
But you make it sound like it's everyones opinion (at least everyone at Codeproject). I don't think it's more dying than you or me, we'll eventually die but hopefully not in the near future. I think it's the same weith Cobol, it'll still be around for a long time. So in essence you right, Cobol will die but it'll take a long time doing so. I'd wager C# is dead before Cobol though.
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I am not going to read the article because in my mind anyone still promoting something that is clearly dead is akin to the the conspiracy theorist. Nagy has enunciated it well - COBOL lives in legacy code and will die when all the aging practitioners die.
Peter Wasser Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa
Thanks Paul. That is a fair comment. However, this article is neither promoting COBOL nor damning it. Rather, it is asking what should be done about it. I found it interesting and apparently, so have a number of other people. It's a bit sad to see people commenting on something they haven't even read, but this is a lounge and that's what happens in lounges :-)
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People have been saying that COBOL was dying since I started in IT in 1985, and probably earlier than that! To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail "Bring out yer dead. Here's one. That'll be ninepence. I'm not dead. What? Nothing. There's your ninepence. I'm not dead. 'Ere, he says he's not dead. Yes he is. I'm not. He isn't. Well, he will be soon, he's very ill. I'm getting better. No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment."
==================================== Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise! ====================================
OK, call it a draw... Come back here, I'll bite you in the leg...
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Thanks Paul. That is a fair comment. However, this article is neither promoting COBOL nor damning it. Rather, it is asking what should be done about it. I found it interesting and apparently, so have a number of other people. It's a bit sad to see people commenting on something they haven't even read, but this is a lounge and that's what happens in lounges :-)
I never commented on the article - I commented that I was not going to read it. I don't read articles on flying saucer sightings either. Thats just an efficient deployment of resources.
Peter Wasser Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa
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Why does C# lack credibility? Maybe I should start a new thread.
Peter Wasser Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa
No, please don't... ;-) It's based on how much Cobol is used in the financial systems (I don't work with finance systems but a fairly large corporation and we have a lot of legacy systems in Cobol, that will remain in Cobol for the foreseeable future). At most places I've worked VB (and by that I mean VB1-VB6) has been something that has been tried to have removed, either by redoing applications altogether (in Java, C#) or trying to "port" them to VB.Net. VB had ~20 years where it was great and now we try to cleanse our memory from it, my best guess is that in 10-20 years time we'll do it with C# and .Net as well but Cobol will still linger on in the background as it does today.
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Member 4246474 wrote:
We all know COBOL is a dying language
Member 4246474 wrote:
That statement is my personal opinion.
But you make it sound like it's everyones opinion (at least everyone at Codeproject). I don't think it's more dying than you or me, we'll eventually die but hopefully not in the near future. I think it's the same weith Cobol, it'll still be around for a long time. So in essence you right, Cobol will die but it'll take a long time doing so. I'd wager C# is dead before Cobol though.
I DID qualify it by saying it is perceived wisdom. (However, at this stage, I do share it personally.) I gained that perception by talking with other programmers in other lounges, but your point is taken. I'll modify my statement to: "Many programmers believe COBOL is a dying language." However, the article neither endorses that view nor condemns it. I was hoping to get some comments from people who actually read it and who program for a living, to see if they agree or disagree with it. I programmed COBOL for a couple of decades but don't any more, so I have an interest and wondered what others opinions might be. I think the point about COBOL being overtaken by a paradigm shift is an interesting one.
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I never commented on the article - I commented that I was not going to read it. I don't read articles on flying saucer sightings either. Thats just an efficient deployment of resources.
Peter Wasser Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa
It is indeed and each of us has a right to decide what inputs we will process. :-) I am suitably chastened by your response. (you're missing a lot of fun with UFOs though... ;-))
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We all know COBOL is a dying language and there is not much coverage here because of that. However if anyone is involved with COBOL at any level or knows someone who is, you/they might find this article thought provoking. http://primacomputing.co.nz/COBOL21/COBOLRelevance.aspx
It's only relevant to someone that's being paid to code in it.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997 -
We all know COBOL is a dying language and there is not much coverage here because of that. However if anyone is involved with COBOL at any level or knows someone who is, you/they might find this article thought provoking. http://primacomputing.co.nz/COBOL21/COBOLRelevance.aspx
Quote:
Our highly trained Tech Support man, Heisenberg (results are always uncertain...), has found the right filing cabinet and you will be shown the requested document in seconds If you can't be bothered waiting for Heisenberg,
As an aside this is what you get if you don't have Javascript enabled. Thought it amusing.
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It's only relevant to someone that's being paid to code in it.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997and fortunately that someone is not me.
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and fortunately that someone is not me.
I actually know a guy that's got a COBOL coding job here in San Aantonio.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997 -
I actually know a guy that's got a COBOL coding job here in San Aantonio.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997There's still a lot of code out there that has to be maintained. I know an old timer that still does it and gets paid very well.
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We all know COBOL is a dying language and there is not much coverage here because of that. However if anyone is involved with COBOL at any level or knows someone who is, you/they might find this article thought provoking. http://primacomputing.co.nz/COBOL21/COBOLRelevance.aspx
A colleague and I were discussing COBOL just yesterday.
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and fortunately that someone is not me.
That should make you feel younger, Mike. :)
"Real men drive manual transmission" - Rajesh.
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That should make you feel younger, Mike. :)
"Real men drive manual transmission" - Rajesh.
your betcha :)
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and fortunately that someone is not me.
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...and unfortunately its not me
Ger
I take it there's a butt load of money to be made?
