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What would it take to get the enterprise to look at alternatives to Java (programming language and/or platform)? If COBOL is any indication, then Java software
by umjames 16y ago
What would it take to get the enterprise to look at alternatives to Java (programming language and/or platform)? If COBOL is any indication, then Java software in the enterprise will continue to be developed for the remainder of our lives.
So, unless you find working with the COBOL of our times enthralling, I guess now is as good a time as any to jump ship on Java. Not that most HN readers haven't done that already.
- stuff4ben 16y agoLast I checked, a couple COBOL programmers I know were making some serious dough updating mainframe code at the bank I used to work at. Not a bad place to be if that's all you want to do. May not be the target demographic for this crowd, but if it pays the bills...
- netmau5 16y agoYea, there is still huge money in "legacy" languages like COBOL. There is plenty of financial sector software out there on COBOL that still works fine and is simply so massive after 30 years of development that rewriting it has never been successful. Luckily, I think most of us Java devs have had the benefit of the shift towards a more polyglot style during the last several years. I think our generation of developers, if you can call it that, are more capable of weathering the storm; ultimately, we will be fine if Java dies.
- gaius 16y agoYou know, there was a similar proliferation of languages in the 1970s. COBOL survived, and who uses PL/I and MUMPS now?