Posted on 08/20/2020 7:44:40 AM PDT by 11th_VA
Heard some jerk call it “Cobalt” the other day. The language is not obsolete. It runs quite well and is great for typical business systems because it incorporates a clear file layout and record description in a quasi-English language style, among other reasons.
>>The average COBOL programmer is like, what, 65 years old now<<
Something like that, sonny.
Get the heck off my PROCEDURE DIVISION.!
Fun Fact: One of the heads up displays in the 1st Terminator movie was a COBOL source listing.
>> CICS baby.<<
I always pronounced it See Eye See Ess.
NEVER “kicks.” I hated that as an acronym.
No acronym for BMS btw ;)
MY favorite as a COBOL programmer was the random ***DO NOT REMOVE THIS COMMENT*** that is somewhere in almost every single COBOL system.
The scary thing was, remove that comment and the program crashes.
Depends on your salary. ;-)
L8R
“I learned BASIC, COBOL, RPG back in 1975.”
Me too. Same time. You forgot Fortran. My first programming job was Weiland DDA checking account software in Assembly language. I could have gotten filthy rich if I’d wanted to. Assembly language would melt basement dwellers minds these days. Especially the hex dumps.
“In an era where computers are obsolete in no time the AS400 is still being made since 1985? by IBM. “
People still use them. Remember the IBM 8100? POS!
i learned all three in 87-89
” It’s an association of programmers who specialize in the Eisenhower-era computer language. “
“Eisenhower era”.
False impression.
It was still in high demand all over IT departments in the 1980s, and continued an active life into the early 2000s while new apps were being built on database systems promoting for PC-connected networks.
Some very large companies still have batch COBOL programs maintaining legacy databases that continue to interface with the most recently developed systems. IBM mainframe systems concurrently run virtual network servers and legacy systems. There is always cost-benefits to considering IT developments and one of the maxims is if it’s not broke don’t fix it. But where many IT departments have failed in managing new developments is not knowing how to distinguish between that maxim and “change”, which is not the same as “fix”.
All of the banks and government agencies still running this stuff are going to be in some trouble.
It reminds me of my late father-in-law, who was a diemaker for one of the Big Three in Detroit. After he put in for his retirement it suddenly dawned on the brass “Oh, sh*t, we haven’t trained any of these guys in, like, 30 years!”
They threw a bunch of money at him to get him to stay and mentor some apprentices. But being UAW he told them to cram it and headed off to Florida.
Never heard of the 8100...
“Never heard of the 8100...”
You’re blessed.
When I was laid off via HR letter, My going away email had a link to this song: Song
I started teaching those three along with C, fortran, pascal, 8080 series assembler, from 1979 thru 1988 at the 2 year college night courses. Churned out a lot of COBOL programmers in those years.
interesting, never heard it called kicks before
I once worked for a retail company that filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and thus got out of paying me a $7000.00 bonus I had earned.
When I left the company I was asked to complete an exit interview. One of the questions was “What were the three best things about being an employee of Acme Department Stores?”
My answer:
1) Employee Incentive Bonus Program (when the bonuses are actually paid)
2) Employee Stock Option Program (when the stock is actually worth something)
3) Free Coffee in lounge
I always imagined my exit interview ended up on a dartboard someplace at the Home Office.
And of course COBOL and the other early computer languages were input on punch cards!
I was still working in COBOL as recently as 10 years ago. The legacy systems are out there.
Ha — perfect.
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