4 ms·

Is that a fair comparison, though? Do we really see people writing significant new software using Cobol as we see using C++? We don't. Right now we're all proba

Is that a fair comparison, though? Do we really see people writing significant new software using Cobol as we see using C++? We don't. Right now we're all probably running a lot of software written in C++ (hello, browser!) but none in Cobol.

dragontamer 12y ago
You'd be surprised. I've got coworkers who's first job in the programming business was Cobol maintenance. Old programmers from the 1960s are retiring in their 80s, and they need maintainers to write new code for various ancient mainframe systems. Do remember, IBM is still selling System/360 systems today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System_z http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System_z These systems are running Cobol code from the 1960s, and they need to be updated to include XML, REST and all the other latest developments of development. http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-future-of-cobol-why-it-wont-go-away-soon/45722 http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-future-of-cobol-why... Similarly, C++ programmers are probably going to have an even _larger_ legacy than Cobol. Cobol is very much alive today. http://www.veryant.com/ http://www.veryant.com/ In fact by some measurements, Cobol is still more popular than Java and Javascript. http://www.computerworld.com/article/2502430/data-center/cobol-brain-drain--survey-results.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2502430/data-center/cob...
- agumonkey 12y ago
  Weird, IBM has been trying to replace bare COBOL with higher level languages for years. And between old crufty COBOL code, compiled COBOL as target code .. I really wonder who enjoys it nowadays.
  - derefr 12y ago
    Personally, if I had to deal with COBOL, not only would I treat COBOL as a "target language", I'd write a decompiler to turn COBOL back into a sensible language and run it over the entire codebase.
    - pjmlp 12y ago
      Good luck finding a mainframe user that would accept it.
      - agumonkey 12y ago
        They already deal with that. I remember the face of a seasoned dev trying to scare me with full pages of compiled code fixed by hand.
    - agumonkey 12y ago
      The problem with COBOL is it's more a DSL[1] than a general purpose one, except it's been abused and extended to do so. [1] from my short readings, it's suited for simple table processing.
  - dragontamer 12y ago
    Weird, IBM has been trying to replace bare COBOL with higher level languages for years. Probably not even "years", and closer to "decades" at this point.
    - agumonkey 12y ago
      I was trying to be conservative.

dragontamer 12y ago

You'd be surprised. I've got coworkers who's first job in the programming business was Cobol maintenance. Old programmers from the 1960s are retiring in their 80s, and they need maintainers to write new code for various ancient mainframe systems. Do remember, IBM is still selling System/360 systems today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System_z http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System_z These systems are running Cobol code from the 1960s, and they need to be updated to include XML, REST and all the other latest developments of development. http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-future-of-cobol-why-it-wont-go-away-soon/45722 http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-future-of-cobol-why... Similarly, C++ programmers are probably going to have an even _larger_ legacy than Cobol. Cobol is very much alive today. http://www.veryant.com/ http://www.veryant.com/ In fact by some measurements, Cobol is still more popular than Java and Javascript. http://www.computerworld.com/article/2502430/data-center/cobol-brain-drain--survey-results.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2502430/data-center/cob...

agumonkey 12y ago
Weird, IBM has been trying to replace bare COBOL with higher level languages for years. And between old crufty COBOL code, compiled COBOL as target code .. I really wonder who enjoys it nowadays.
- derefr 12y ago
  Personally, if I had to deal with COBOL, not only would I treat COBOL as a "target language", I'd write a decompiler to turn COBOL back into a sensible language and run it over the entire codebase.
  - pjmlp 12y ago
    Good luck finding a mainframe user that would accept it.
    - agumonkey 12y ago
      They already deal with that. I remember the face of a seasoned dev trying to scare me with full pages of compiled code fixed by hand.
  - agumonkey 12y ago
    The problem with COBOL is it's more a DSL[1] than a general purpose one, except it's been abused and extended to do so. [1] from my short readings, it's suited for simple table processing.
- dragontamer 12y ago
  Weird, IBM has been trying to replace bare COBOL with higher level languages for years. Probably not even "years", and closer to "decades" at this point.
  - agumonkey 12y ago
    I was trying to be conservative.