2 ms·

We actually rely upon two different operating environments for COBOL that do not originate from IBM. The first is OS2200. Our final major application on this p

by chasil 3y ago

We actually rely upon two different operating environments for COBOL that do not originate from IBM. The first is OS2200. Our final major application on this platform was complete by 1970, and links COBOL into assembler that accesses the hierarchical DMS database. The first SMP port of UNIX was to this hardware: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_2200 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_2200 The second is VMS, specifically the VAX variety. VMS bundled a COBOL compiler, which we used to write ACMS applications. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVMS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVMS We continue to produce new COBOL code for both.

_huayra_ 3y ago
Are you able to find COBOL programmers to hire, or is it like Rust where a lot of jobs are "know C++ and we'll train you"?
- chasil 3y ago
  We have several. Hiring is possible. Hiring people with experience of the respective OS is more difficult.
- 7thaccount 3y ago
  My buddy's wife has a business degree and her first company had her learn Cobol for a couple of months (never had programmed before). I'm not sure where that went after the training, but apparently it's still a thing (this was only a few years ago).
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- bregma 3y ago
  C++ is not that similar to COBOL. COBOL is closer to Crystal Reports or SAP (ABAP). There are plenty of people with experience in those domains around today. Probably more than C++.
nxobject 3y ago
Is your org considering transitioning to OpenVMS on x86?
- chasil 3y ago
  No, TDMS wasn't ported to the Alpha, so migration was never an option.
  - rbanffy 3y ago
    What's the long-term plan then? Rehosting on a different OS?
  - skissane 3y ago
    > No, TDMS wasn't ported to the Alpha, so migration was never an option. VSI has TDMS for both Alpha and Integrity: https://vmssoftware.com/products/tdms/ https://vmssoftware.com/products/tdms/ I assume they'll probably come out with an x86-64 version at some point

by chasil 3y ago

_huayra_ 3y ago

Are you able to find COBOL programmers to hire, or is it like Rust where a lot of jobs are "know C++ and we'll train you"?

chasil 3y ago
We have several. Hiring is possible. Hiring people with experience of the respective OS is more difficult.
7thaccount 3y ago
My buddy's wife has a business degree and her first company had her learn Cobol for a couple of months (never had programmed before). I'm not sure where that went after the training, but apparently it's still a thing (this was only a few years ago).
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
bregma 3y ago
C++ is not that similar to COBOL. COBOL is closer to Crystal Reports or SAP (ABAP). There are plenty of people with experience in those domains around today. Probably more than C++.

nxobject 3y ago

Is your org considering transitioning to OpenVMS on x86?

chasil 3y ago
No, TDMS wasn't ported to the Alpha, so migration was never an option.
- rbanffy 3y ago
  What's the long-term plan then? Rehosting on a different OS?
- skissane 3y ago
  > No, TDMS wasn't ported to the Alpha, so migration was never an option. VSI has TDMS for both Alpha and Integrity: https://vmssoftware.com/products/tdms/ https://vmssoftware.com/products/tdms/ I assume they'll probably come out with an x86-64 version at some point