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> The surge in demand is being driven almost entirely by state unemployment systems. Most of these systems haven't seen a surge in unemployment claims since the
by vageli 7y ago
> The surge in demand is being driven almost entirely by state unemployment systems. Most of these systems haven't seen a surge in unemployment claims since the 2009 recession and haven't had to change the underlying rules governing eligibility in even longer. Once the systems are patched and/or the surge in new claims subsides, 90% of this sudden demand for "Cobalt programmers" will evaporate.
I generally agree but I also believe that this whole exercise might be an impetus for some states to migrate these services to more modern languages to prevent this type of crisis in the future.
- jasonjayr 7y agoIf you had to chose an environment or programming language that you expect to survive, in regards to talent pool + tech availability for 30+ years today, what would you choose?
- jabedude 7y agoC + Linux. That seems to be the most promising tech with regards to longevity that exists today.
- ardy42 7y ago> C + Linux. That seems to be the most promising tech with regards to longevity that exists today. It really depends on the application. C & Linux will literally be around forever, but C isn't the best language for a line-of-business application like an unemployment system. Java would be a better fit for something like that.
- mdtusz 7y agoJust curious, what's your reasoning for thinking C wouldn't be a good fit? I'd think either would be fine choices given their ubiquity. (Not a C or Java programmer, just like to learn!)
- burntoutfire 7y agoC, compared to Java, is a poor fit for a multitude of reasons, for example: - undefined behaviour - non-portable binaries - lack of rich and powerful standard library - manual memory management requires developers of higher skill and discipline
- orbifold 7y agoBoth C++ and Java are pretty obvious choices aren't they? Both have probably billion lines of code or more investments into them and are the backbone of a huge number of very successful companies.
- throwaway_pdp09 7y ago> C++ Really? :(
- gonzo41 7y agoJava, with a lot of apache commons libraries and postgrees databases. They've both been around 25,34 years respectively and will survive probably about the same into the future as long as java stays sensible and slows the rate at which is has spawned features like c++
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- throwaway_pdp09 7y ago1. Formally defined semantics 2. Simple (LR1) grammar 3. Small, as a language 4. Static types (static need not be inflexible. Scala is static but very flexible. Perhaps overly so but whatever) 5. No undefined behaviour 6. All dumb holes such as buffer overflow always checked for 7. Good supporting tools (vague I agree but necessary) 8. Suitable, well-designed library 9. Not repeat not designed by the government which will make an utter mess of it all. 10. And pigs will soar
- chachachoney 7y agoIs Cobalt an obscure dialect of Cobol?