COBOL

[Actor]

If you are a COBOL programmer the state of New Jersey wants to hire you.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/06/new-...nt-system.html

[PaceAdvantage]

It's like Y2K all over again

[Actor]

Maybe not. The link says "volunteers." That probably means no pay.

[oughtoh]

I told my wife that. When she was a programmer for a bank, years ago, that is what they used. I haven't heard of that for years, but I am not a computer person.

[Actor]

The problem with antique languages such as FORTRAN, COBOL and ALGOL is so many programs were written in them that converting them to more modern languages such as Java is an exercise in futility. Java, Python, etc. will inevitably also become antiques and the problem persists. One solution that has been tried is to take a modern language (such as Java) and a modern computer and develop an emulator program which makes a modern computer run the operating system of an antique computer such as an IBM 360. I do not know how much success has been realized with this approach.

When I retired in 1996 I took a long vacation before trying to find another job. The idea was that I could "double dip," live on my pension and put all the money from my second job into investments. I was contacted by one head-hunter who was thrilled to find I had FORTRAN experience. She said it would be easy to place me because FORTRAN programmers were in great demand. That turned out to not be the case and I never did get another programming job. I think the problem was age bias but of course no one would admit that.

I did learn COBOL in college but have never held a job programming in that language.

[Augenj]

I was a COBOL programmer in the 70's before moving on to IBM operating systems programming. Even a non-programmer could look at the source and get a hint of what it was trying to do because it used English words as part of the language, unlike the cryptic stuff you see in today's languages.

[Red Knave]

Thanks to Xerox and Apple and (finally) Microsoft Windows programmers had to figure out how to deal with new input devices like mice and output devices like screens that could display graphics. Cobol et. al. were more intended for straight line processing of data with limited input and output choices. They have been updated but it's like putting a new head on an old V8. Pretty soon your rings and seals are gone and you're worse off.
I bet there's still as many or more lines of Cobol and Fortran running commercially as there are C++ and Java.

[cj]

Originally Posted by Red Knave

Thanks to Xerox and Apple and (finally) Microsoft Windows programmers had to figure out how to deal with new input devices like mice and output devices like screens that could display graphics. Cobol et. al. were more intended for straight line processing of data with limited input and output choices. They have been updated but it's like putting a new head on an old V8. Pretty soon your rings and seals are gone and you're worse off.
I bet there's still as many or more lines of Cobol and Fortran running commercially as there are C++ and Java.

Used to do some programming in both of those, and I'd bet you are right. Did some contracted freelance programming (and I'm far from a pro, but it was easy) to fix some Y2K stuff when I was in Wyoming for a few places. It was all COBOL at the time.

[Red Knave]

Originally Posted by cj

to fix some Y2K stuff when

Y2K was a gift for me. I made 6 months pay for 6 weeks work in the fall of 1999 which allowed me to take some time off and learn a new language that I continued to use for the next dozen years until I retired.

[JustRalph]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/14/2...infrastructure

More

[cj]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/14/2...infrastructure

More

I think I still have a compiler around on a 3.5" disk somewhere!

[delayjf]

I was always under the impression that FORTRAN was a language used to train
or teach programming. Apparently I was wrong.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by cj

I think I still have a compiler around on a 3.5" disk somewhere!

Believe it or not, wife and I cleaned out the garage this last week and Tossed out lots of stuff from way back. I actually had some floppy disks that were so old I couldn’t read the smeared writing on them. I have no idea what was on them.......

Who knows.....

[wilderness]

Seem to recall there various compilers in the old shareware suff.
If you have lots patience (and time to burn), you may find most anything here.
Not sure how it would work with the newer OS's.

http://cd.textfiles.com/

[Dave Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Red Knave

Y2K was a gift for me. I made 6 months pay for 6 weeks work in the fall of 1999 which allowed me to take some time off and learn a new language that I continued to use for the next dozen years until I retired.

What language was that, Knave?