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How can COBOL be a "dead" or "mostly dead" language if it still handles over 70% of global business transactions (with ~800 billion lines of code and still grow

by Rochus 1y ago

How can COBOL be a "dead" or "mostly dead" language if it still handles over 70% of global business transactions (with ~800 billion lines of code and still growing). See e.g. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cobol-market-shown-to-be-three-times-larger-than-previously-estimated-in-new-independent-survey-1031162633 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cobol-market....

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
_mlbt 1y ago
BASIC is the scripting language used by Microsoft Office. Saying that it powers millions of businesses is probably not an exaggeration. Pascal, particularly the Delphi/Object Pascal flavor, is also still in widespread use today.
- Rochus 1y ago
  Also Smalltalk is still in wide use; ML is also used; there are even many PL/I applications in use today and IBM continues to give support.
  - fuzztester 1y ago
    I don't know, I heard somewhere that even the C language is in wide use, still ... ;)
ranger_danger 1y ago
Maybe their definition uses recent popularity or how many new projects are started with it. Under that definition, I think it's pretty safe to call it "dead".
- Rochus 1y ago
  If you redefine language, anything is possible.
  - pessimizer 1y ago
    Yes. "Dead" normally means "to be devoid of life," but it's often extended to metaphorically cover things like computer languages. edit: for ancient Greek to become a dead language, will we be required to burn all of the books that were written in it, or can we just settle for not writing any new ones?
    - eviks 1y ago
      For ancient Greek all you need is no one speaking it (using it in real life) Same with a programming language - is no one is wiring code in it, it's dead
duskwuff 1y ago
No one's starting new projects in COBOL.
- Rochus 1y ago
  One of the most significant new COBOL projects in 2025 was the integration of a new COBOL front-end into the GNU Compiler Collection. There are indeed quite many new projects being started in COBOL, though they primarily focus on modernization and integration with contemporary technologies rather than traditional greenfield development. Also not forget some cloud providers now offer "COBOL as a service" (see e.g. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/m2/latest/userguide/what-is-m2.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/m2/latest/userguide/what-is-m2.h...).
  - iLoveOncall 1y ago
    > There are indeed quite many new projects being started in COBOL No. You have to put this relative to projects started in other languages, at which points new projects started in COBOL is even less than a rounding error, it probably wouldn't result in anything other than 0 with a float.
    - Rochus 1y ago
      The claim was "No one's starting new projects in COBOL."
      - iLoveOncall 1y ago
        And everyone of good faith understood what the claim actually was.
        Rochus 1y ago
        And everyone with relevant fintech project experience knows that new projects on the existing core banking systems are started all the time and that COBOL continues to be a relevant language (whether we like it or not).

by Rochus 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

_mlbt 1y ago

BASIC is the scripting language used by Microsoft Office. Saying that it powers millions of businesses is probably not an exaggeration. Pascal, particularly the Delphi/Object Pascal flavor, is also still in widespread use today.

Rochus 1y ago
Also Smalltalk is still in wide use; ML is also used; there are even many PL/I applications in use today and IBM continues to give support.
- fuzztester 1y ago
  I don't know, I heard somewhere that even the C language is in wide use, still ... ;)

ranger_danger 1y ago

Maybe their definition uses recent popularity or how many new projects are started with it. Under that definition, I think it's pretty safe to call it "dead".

Rochus 1y ago
If you redefine language, anything is possible.
- pessimizer 1y ago
  Yes. "Dead" normally means "to be devoid of life," but it's often extended to metaphorically cover things like computer languages. edit: for ancient Greek to become a dead language, will we be required to burn all of the books that were written in it, or can we just settle for not writing any new ones?
  - eviks 1y ago
    For ancient Greek all you need is no one speaking it (using it in real life) Same with a programming language - is no one is wiring code in it, it's dead

duskwuff 1y ago

No one's starting new projects in COBOL.

Rochus 1y ago
One of the most significant new COBOL projects in 2025 was the integration of a new COBOL front-end into the GNU Compiler Collection. There are indeed quite many new projects being started in COBOL, though they primarily focus on modernization and integration with contemporary technologies rather than traditional greenfield development. Also not forget some cloud providers now offer "COBOL as a service" (see e.g. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/m2/latest/userguide/what-is-m2.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/m2/latest/userguide/what-is-m2.h...).
- iLoveOncall 1y ago
  > There are indeed quite many new projects being started in COBOL No. You have to put this relative to projects started in other languages, at which points new projects started in COBOL is even less than a rounding error, it probably wouldn't result in anything other than 0 with a float.
  - Rochus 1y ago
    The claim was "No one's starting new projects in COBOL."
    - iLoveOncall 1y ago
      And everyone of good faith understood what the claim actually was.
      - Rochus 1y ago
        And everyone with relevant fintech project experience knows that new projects on the existing core banking systems are started all the time and that COBOL continues to be a relevant language (whether we like it or not).