Cobol is Dead
in [Cobol]
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From: Alistair on 12 Aug 2010 07:38 Despite Pete frequently proclaiming the death of Cobol someone out there is in search of a trainer. Unfortunately, for me, it is the wrong kind of Cobol: http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?jobid=48202373
From: HansJ on 12 Aug 2010 09:06 On 12 Aug., 13:38, Alistair <alist...(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: > Despite Pete frequently proclaiming the death of Cobol someone out > there is in search of a trainer. Unfortunately, for me, it is the > wrong kind of Cobol: > > http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?jobid=48202373 Alistair, I checked the HP site for COBOL training and did not find it, so what does that tell you about COBOL in that environment? Regards HansJ
From: Pete Dashwood on 12 Aug 2010 09:11 Alistair wrote: > Despite Pete frequently proclaiming the death of Cobol someone out > there is in search of a trainer. Unfortunately, for me, it is the > wrong kind of Cobol: > > http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?jobid=48202373 Sigh... I have never "proclaimed the death of COBOL". In 1996 or thereabouts I predicted that by 2015 COBOL would not be in use as a major development language. (This was met by general derision and many quotes that this had been predicted before etc...Nobody actually believed me. They didn't believe me when I advised people to expand their skill sets, learn Java, learn OOP. Some of those "unbelievers" are now out of work or forcibly retired. It's not something I'm glad about being right about.) It's happened sooner than I thought. The days of the one stop COBOL shop are already gone. Even mainframe sites are mixing COBOL with other things and COBOL is being phased out. A new generation of programmers is coming in and they want OO. COBOL can do it, but not as well as other languages can and the result is what we are seeing. I have ALWAYS said there would be a place for COBOL in batch programming. However, I don't personally believe that batch programming has a future either. The increasing power of processors and parallell processing means that data warehouses can do everything in real time. If you CAN do it in real time why wouldn't you? It is just the way of the world. Things move on. The procedural paradigm has largely been replaced by newer tools and approaches. I spent 25 years making a living from COBOL when it WAS the "only game in town". I don't regret a minute of it, but I enjoy my work more today. As for the "death of COBOL" I suppose it will happen sometime, just as all things pass. Does a single ad for a trainer mean that COBOL is alive and thriving? I don't know. Have you looked on Jobserve recently? Beat me up in 2015 if you really think I was wrong. Pete. -- "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
From: HansJ on 12 Aug 2010 09:28 On 12 Aug., 15:11, "Pete Dashwood" <dashw...(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote: > Alistair wrote: > > Despite Pete frequently proclaiming the death of Cobol someone out > > there is in search of a trainer. Unfortunately, for me, it is the > > wrong kind of Cobol: > > >http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?jobid=48202373 > > Sigh... I have never "proclaimed the death of COBOL". > > In 1996 or thereabouts I predicted that by 2015 COBOL would not be in use as > a major development language. (This was met by general derision and many > quotes that this had been predicted before etc...Nobody actually believed > me. They didn't believe me when I advised people to expand their skill sets, > learn Java, learn OOP. Some of those "unbelievers" are now out of work or > forcibly retired. It's not something I'm glad about being right about.) > > It's happened sooner than I thought. The days of the one stop COBOL shop are > already gone. Even mainframe sites are mixing COBOL with other things and > COBOL is being phased out. A new generation of programmers is coming in and > they want OO. COBOL can do it, but not as well as other languages can and > the result is what we are seeing. > > I have ALWAYS said there would be a place for COBOL in batch programming. > However, I don't personally believe that batch programming has a future > either. The increasing power of processors and parallell processing means > that data warehouses can do everything in real time. If you CAN do it in > real time why wouldn't you? > > It is just the way of the world. Things move on. The procedural paradigm has > largely been replaced by newer tools and approaches. > > I spent 25 years making a living from COBOL when it WAS the "only game in > town". I don't regret a minute of it, but I enjoy my work more today. > > As for the "death of COBOL" I suppose it will happen sometime, just as all > things pass. Does a single ad for a trainer mean that COBOL is alive and > thriving? I don't know. Have you looked on Jobserve recently? > > Beat me up in 2015 if you really think I was wrong. > > Pete. > -- > "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything." Pete, I can totally agree to your position, though COBOL is not dead, but is getting there faster as expected. We are doing all new developments with Java and COBOL is still used at a number of sites we do business with (even on NonStop systems). Sites running COBOL today are asking about automated COBOL to Java conversion (which I know works well from a number of sites). There are good reasons to argue that this might not be a good idea, but there are reasons to do it. The projects that I know about do not regret this step at all. COBOL is not dead now, but it is getting there... Regards Hans
From: Alistair on 12 Aug 2010 09:54
On Aug 12, 2:06 pm, HansJ <hans.i...(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > On 12 Aug., 13:38, Alistair <alist...(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > > Despite Pete frequently proclaiming the death of Cobol someone out > > there is in search of a trainer. Unfortunately, for me, it is the > > wrong kind of Cobol: > > >http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/JobSearch/JobDetails.aspx?jobid=48202373 > > Alistair, > > I checked the HP site for COBOL training and did not find it, so what > does that tell you about COBOL in that environment? > > Regards HansJ They haven't woken up to the wonders of the web yet? I'v seen jobs advertised by agencies and not by the employer before now. |