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--- Amanda Nance <Amanda -dot- Nance -at- VITALPS -dot- COM> wrote:
> "COBOL is an all but dead language..."
>
> I don't know too much about the older programming languages, but whatever
> mainframes use, it must be old. It seems that there are some industries that
> need people who can program in the old languages. It doesn't sound like John
> wants to learn an old one, but aren't there some situations in which knowing
> an old language could give you an advantage?
I chuckled when I read the comment about COBOL being "an all but dead
language." It seems to be alive and well in the Financial world. I "learned"
COBOL 29 years ago, then never went near it until three and a half years ago
when I took my current position. Part of the reason I got the job was that I
had once been exposed to COBOL and was neither freaked by it nor put off
because it was so old and out of date.
Now, I recognize that COBOL isn't cutting edge. No doubt there are large
industry segments out there for which COBOL would be wholly inappropriate. I
doubt I would recommend COBOL familiarization to anyone who wasn't specifically
looking at work in the Financial sector: banking, credit processing, and the
like. But I can promise you that millions of lines of COBOL are being written
every day. It's alive, I tell you. Alive!!!! <g>
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