Re: old programming languages (was RE: Jumpstart a programming ability)

[SIANNON -at- VISUS -dot- JNJ -dot- com]

--- Amanda Nance <Amanda -dot- Nance -at- VITALPS -dot- COM> wrote:
> "COBOL is an all but dead language..."

Y'know, I've been hearing for over ten years that COBOL was on death's 
door,--persistent little bugger, isn't it?

Honestly, I believe certain of the older languages will *not* be completely 
dying, not just because of the legacy systems companies choose to integrate 
rather than convert, but because those languages can do some thing newer 
ones can't.

COBOL has a precision level with number values that is better than any of 
the newer languages for the purposes of managing financial transacions. 
People forget that most languages round off numbers after several digits, 
or limit number types to a specified range (e.g., IIRC, the "double" number 
type used by many VB programs can't handle extremely large positive or 
negative numbers).

I heard similar death-sentencing for SAS back when I was in college, and 
yet it seems to be growing more and more, as friendlier interfaces are 
designed.  The language is structured as if it was reading punch-cards, for 
crying out loud,...and yet it offers ways of dealing with null values and 
calculated values that are difficult to replicate in other languages.

Whether to learn an older language now, as part of a career expansion?  It 
depends.  We are at a prime point in which companies are being forced to 
deal with their legacy systems, and get them to play nice with the new 
toys. Knowing an older language can be a good way to become a hard-to-find 
commodity.  If you couple it with a good "glue" skill or language (like 
perl) that can help translate between otherwise incompatible systems, you 
become the magician so many companies are in desperate need of, right now.  
However (!) it definitely helps if you make sure the language you choose is 
something you find you like working with.  If it's not, you're just opting 
for a more stressful route to the same income.

Just my 2 cents,
Shauna Iannone
Tech Writer, American Computing Technologies,
currently supporting 3GT CIM at Vistakon
--------------------------------------------
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher 
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, 
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, 
cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, 
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. 
Specialization is for insects.
-- Lazarus Long

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