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I think COBOL is not a question of hate vs not hate. To hate something you need to consider it, you need to have requirements. If nobody shares an article like

by erikb 9y ago

I think COBOL is not a question of hate vs not hate. To hate something you need to consider it, you need to have requirements. If nobody shares an article like this one nobody is actually THINKING about COBOL. If someone starts a new project COBOL is not on the list of possible programming languages to implement it in. If you want to make it more popular don't fight hate, fight ignorance. But to be honest I'm one of these people who up till now doesn't even consider it a choice. So don't expect too much support or understanding from my side.

the_af 9y ago
> If you want to make it more popular I don't think that's a desirable goal. COBOL is not a very good programming language: it's verbose, clunky, cumbersome and outdated. It still exists because of tons of legacy systems and (understandably) conservative businesses like banks. But if you start a new project, please DON'T consider COBOL. To be honest, even my recommendation is irrelevant: you wouldn't start a new COBOL project just as you wouldn't start a new GW Basic project -- it'd be unnatural. Disclaimer: worked with COBOL for a bank. It wasn't pretty.
- erikb 9y ago
  It was just an assumption, based on someone writing an article called "Don't hate COBOL until you've tried it". As said, I personally wouldn't even consider it, so there is zero chance to hate it as well.
  - the_af 9y ago
    Yes, it wasn't a criticism of your post! Just a clarification, namely, that I think COBOL evangelism is misplaced, because you're either forced to use it by your customer (often, a bank or similar institution) or you are not, in which case there are plenty of better, modern languages you should use instead. In either case, you don't need someone convincing you to use COBOL. If you're unaware of this language, you don't need it :)
- camiller 9y ago
  Well... if I was starting a new project that had to run on an MVS mainframe, I probably would in fact consider COBOL. But I'm relatively happy that I probably won't be in that position.
  - the_af 9y ago
    Agreed on all counts. Do note that "making the language more popular" doesn't factor into this: if you need to start a project on an MVS mainframe, you already know about COBOL!

by erikb 9y ago

the_af 9y ago

> If you want to make it more popular I don't think that's a desirable goal. COBOL is not a very good programming language: it's verbose, clunky, cumbersome and outdated. It still exists because of tons of legacy systems and (understandably) conservative businesses like banks. But if you start a new project, please DON'T consider COBOL. To be honest, even my recommendation is irrelevant: you wouldn't start a new COBOL project just as you wouldn't start a new GW Basic project -- it'd be unnatural. Disclaimer: worked with COBOL for a bank. It wasn't pretty.

erikb 9y ago
It was just an assumption, based on someone writing an article called "Don't hate COBOL until you've tried it". As said, I personally wouldn't even consider it, so there is zero chance to hate it as well.
- the_af 9y ago
  Yes, it wasn't a criticism of your post! Just a clarification, namely, that I think COBOL evangelism is misplaced, because you're either forced to use it by your customer (often, a bank or similar institution) or you are not, in which case there are plenty of better, modern languages you should use instead. In either case, you don't need someone convincing you to use COBOL. If you're unaware of this language, you don't need it :)
camiller 9y ago
Well... if I was starting a new project that had to run on an MVS mainframe, I probably would in fact consider COBOL. But I'm relatively happy that I probably won't be in that position.
- the_af 9y ago
  Agreed on all counts. Do note that "making the language more popular" doesn't factor into this: if you need to start a project on an MVS mainframe, you already know about COBOL!