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They're going to try and rewrite the IRS' Individual Master File, and not care if it changes the way it behaves.

• euroderf 2y ago
  As I understand it, the source for the Master File is lost to the mists of time. But a SoA A.I. can disassemble and comment it, yes ? Prep it for recompilation ?
  • shakna 2y ago
    The source hasn't been lost. It's just that the source was written in a combination of assembly code and COBOL, before COBOL was standardised. They can turn and recompile it any time. Doesn't mean that it's easy to modify or maintain. There were successful efforts to translate it to Java, already underway (CADE-2). They were probably going to finish somewhere in the next two years. The efforts were for bit-for-bit identical reproductions. [0] An AI will not help you here. Because this little piece of assembly was created for mainframes, not for computers today (AS/400s, I believe). Even the concept of paths don't operate the way systems do today - the drives were direct access, and tape-based. There is not enough material to train a model on, to make it close to accurate. [0] https://federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-commentary/2020/10/irs-details-strategy-for-replacing-its-most-ancient-computer-code/ https://federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-commentary/2020/10/...
• adrianmonk 2y ago
  Isn't that what the IRS has already been doing the last few years, and has been making good progress on, except that they have been doing it properly so it behaves right? https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewleahey/2024/09/06/from-cobol-and-assembly-to-java-modernizing-the-irs/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewleahey/2024/09/06/from-co... It seems more than a little silly to try to rewrite something when it isn't necessary since it has already been done. And that goes double if the goal is efficiency since it cost money to do something that doesn't need to be done.
  • shakna 2y ago
    The team responsible for doing it right, have been fired, before the project's completion.