3 ms·
The internet is complex, and you have tons of protocols that are not well supported. TCP/HTTP are well supported by proxies and have well-defined, stable specs,
by lightningspirit 3mo ago
The internet is complex, and you have tons of protocols that are not well supported. TCP/HTTP are well supported by proxies and have well-defined, stable specs, which also help with caching, throttling, etc.
Just because it's old doesn't mean it is worse than alternatives, most likely it is quite the contrary.
- austin-cheney 3mo agoIts worse than alternatives because it imposes greater complexity on everybody that uses it. COBOL is also old. That also does not mean COBOL is bad, but nobody wants to write COBOL any more when there are so many better options available.
- lightningspirit 3mo agoI think we're comparing two very different categories. COBOL is an application language, whereas TCP and HTTP are foundational infrastructure. Replacing a language is challenging, but replacing the infrastructure that underpins most of the Internet is orders of magnitude more complex due to the sheer number of interoperating systems. HTTP accounts for roughly 70-80% of global web traffic, and if you narrow it to TCP-based application traffic, its dominance is closer to 95%. Comparing HTTP to COBOL is a bit like comparing trucks to bicycles...