12-06-2010, 09:45 PM
If truth be told, all COBOL is archaic. But when used for what it was originally designed for, it works very well. I would be happy to use COBOL in situations for which it is well suited, e.g. working with files with size-delimited fields, but I would be reaching for the manual for another language if I were working with a database or a GUI client. Not every language is suited to every situation, despite the hype of Microsoft, Oracle, IBM and others.
Out in the corporate world, there are many systems that are 30+ years old. That means that the people who developed them have had 30+ years to get the bugs out and tailor them to the needs of their businesses. They may be old-fashioned, but they are rock-solid stable, and users know how to use them. To replace them all will cost a lot of money, take a lot of time, and cause upheaval to the businesses because, to begin with at least, the new systems are more complex and less stable than the old.
So, despite what the computer science pundits say, COBOL will be with us for a long time yet. It is a good thing it is such an easy language to learn.
Anyway, that's enough of that. I need to get back to my .NET training. :yay
Out in the corporate world, there are many systems that are 30+ years old. That means that the people who developed them have had 30+ years to get the bugs out and tailor them to the needs of their businesses. They may be old-fashioned, but they are rock-solid stable, and users know how to use them. To replace them all will cost a lot of money, take a lot of time, and cause upheaval to the businesses because, to begin with at least, the new systems are more complex and less stable than the old.
So, despite what the computer science pundits say, COBOL will be with us for a long time yet. It is a good thing it is such an easy language to learn.
Anyway, that's enough of that. I need to get back to my .NET training. :yay