_12:18 - Watching over the LAB.
Right now I’m sitting in Davenport’s computer lab waiting to answer student’s questions on anything they might have concerning computers. For the most part I have been able to answer these questions but for some god awful reason, some are learning COBOL.
I don’t know COBOL anymore than I know the secret to Martha Stewart’s bedroom color theory(s). Why should I? COBOL has to be the worst language out there. It’s not a growing language and the only reason people are still learning it is because companies can’t foot the bill to convert their old crappy COBOL systems into something that would work better for them.
{…taking deep breaths} Ok, i’m done with that rant. I’m just annoyed by anything that has to do with COBOL.
The lab is a pretty nice place to be though. I mean, all you have to do is answer some questions (minus any COBAL) and you play on the Internet. Today I started reading up on PHP4 again and learned some new tricks :-)
After awhile of that I got into a conversation on the differences between C and C++. I’ll be honest with you and say, “I don’t know much about C or C++.”, but this guy explained alot to me and showed me some programs he’s currently writting. He walked me through his code and I even found a small mistake in how he was trying to pull an array.
Interestingly enough - what I learned in PHP today helped me understand alittle better the whole C++ conversation.
But to bring all this back to perspective - “Why in god’s name would anyone learn/teach COBOL?”. Can’t we just stop this language and force companies to do better?
posted on March 16, 2002 | 12:26 PM EST
Add to the discussion.
Is it possible to BURN code?
what type of language is cobol ? What does it accomplish for the companies that are using it?
In a Nutshell
COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was the first widely-used high-level programming language for business applications. Many payroll, accounting, and other business application programs written in COBOL over the past 35 years are still in use and it is possible that there are more existing lines of programming code in COBOL than in any other programming language. While the language has been updated over the years, it is generally perceived as out-of-date and COBOL programs are generally viewed as legacy applications.
COBOL was an effort to make a programming language that was like natural English, easy to write and easier to read the code after you’d written it. The earliest versions of the language, COBOL-60 and -61, evolved to the COBOL-85 standard sponsored by the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL).
In years immediately preceding the year 2000, many COBOL programs required change to accommodate the new century. Programmers with COBOL skills were in demand by major corporations and contractors. A number of companies have updated COBOL and sell development tools that combine COBOL programming with relational databases and the Internet.
Thanks for the reply and your patience with a beginning student.
My company has a long history of COBAL language legacy systems. I suspect that part of the problem with converting everything is that they still work and there are so many updates and version rewrites that they cannot easily convert. Mostly the cost has been the problem. I work for a Telcom company. They have databases that are 35 years old. They have great new technology also. That is what I am interested in. Good luck and Thanks.
@poling51 - yup, the IT manager should be fired if his only answer is “Nothing but it’s old”. That’s usually not a good reason to spend time and money.
Now - if the CEO was wanting to grow as a company and their business objectives required them to do X,Y,Z over the next few years - there’s a long-term strategy question of “Is this the right programming language for the job, will it help us move as fast as we need or slow us down over time, is the language going to be around/supported as long as we need it to be or will we HAVE to change.
These are just a few questions the IT manager should be working with the CEO to help answer. The Harvard Business Review discussed a topic pretty close to this in an article a few months back.
Aaron Schaap Says:
Is it possible to BURN code?