4 ms·
Headline makes me think of RPG (the language, look it up [0]). It's basically disappeared, but it was one of the key languages used to develop much of the banki
by passwordoops 4y ago
Headline makes me think of RPG (the language, look it up [0]). It's basically disappeared, but it was one of the key languages used to develop much of the banking system waaaaay back. For a variety of reasons, it's still very much present but the experts are in their 70s and anyone competent enough to debug is well into their late 50s at the youngest.
Attempts at upgrading to, say C++ or Java usually fail for the same reason any massive system-defining upgrade fails, so they have to trot these guys out every now and then to the tune of $100-500K per day whenever there's a problem.
Moral of the story - sometimes it could be a better very long-term strategy to be an expert at just one language that has enough mission-critical functions in an industry that doesn't like investing in IT. C++ could turn into one.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_RPG https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_RPG
- switchbak 4y agoI'd wire wrap circuits on the Colossus for 500k a day! Do you actually mean 100-500k per day?
- passwordoops 4y agoYes, a day. When you're dealing with a bug that could disrupt all international transfers at your bank for several days, and the kid you have on staff who learned RPG on YT has reached his limit, it's cheap. I learned about it from a friend who worked at an IBM partner with a tool to help translate RPG to something else. Rarely worked because of the decades of nuanced patches to deal with evolving business rules, and when it did they usually came in several million above budget.