Happy Birthday COBOL

quantmeh · June 1st, 2009, 4:23 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: daveangelyou wouldn't want to mess with her ...

Cuchulainn · June 1st, 2009, 6:06 pm

Cobol is unstoppable once it gets up to full speed. Especially with rear admiral Grace Murray Hopper at the helm.

Cuchulainn · June 1st, 2009, 6:36 pm

Quotemy COBOL programs were highly structured using PERFORM THROUGHs and a sprinkle of GOTOs. Did you also document each line of code in real time?

daveangel · June 1st, 2009, 6:43 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: CuchulainnQuotemy COBOL programs were highly structured using PERFORM THROUGHs and a sprinkle of GOTOs. Did you also document each line of code in real time?you must have seen this type of comment in a FORTRAN programCC Incrementing iC I = I + 1etc

Cuchulainn · June 1st, 2009, 7:09 pm

QuoteCC Incrementing iCI = I + 1Yeah, hilarious, like pre-internet twitter (and on punch cards!)Of course, these days you can make '+' to mean anything you want it to mean. Banned in Java, what?

quantmeh · June 2nd, 2009, 6:37 am

i started reading COBOL and PL/I books a few times, and stopped after a few chapters every time. it was sooooo booooooring

Cuchulainn · June 2nd, 2009, 6:49 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: jawabeani started reading COBOL and PL/I books a few times, and stopped after a few chapters every time. it was sooooo booooooringHow can you say that? PL/C was my first language ( == Cobol and Fortran Allin1), ah yes, the old procedures options main...

quantmeh · June 2nd, 2009, 2:35 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: CuchulainnHow can you say that? too wordy to my taste. i liked FORTRAN, for its economy. one line, and bam! your array if integers becomes an array of reals.

Cuchulainn · June 2nd, 2009, 3:01 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: jawabeanQuoteOriginally posted by: CuchulainnHow can you say that? too wordy to my taste. i liked FORTRAN, for its economy. one line, and bam! your array if integers becomes an array of reals.Of course, you know *who* developed PL/I(hint: if compilers were computers, PL/I would be a mainframe and we only need 5).

rmeenaks · June 5th, 2009, 6:05 pm

One of the greatest features of COBOL was its built-in ISAM database support. Can't beat that!

Cuchulainn · January 21st, 2011, 6:17 pm

micro focus QuoteApproximately 5 billion new lines of Cobol code are added to live systems every year, Micro Focus said. An estimate 200 billion lines of Cobol code are being used in business and finance applications today, the company said.

Hansi · January 21st, 2011, 6:31 pm

Is that because it takes so many lines of codes to accomplish things that take less lines in other languages?COBOL always sounds like COBOLt to me and makes me want to grab a long sword and start the hack n' slash.

Cuchulainn · January 21st, 2011, 6:47 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: HansiIs that because it takes so many lines of codes to accomplish things that take less lines in other languages?COBOL always sounds like COBOLt to me and makes me want to grab a long sword and start the hack n' slash.Careful, Hansi

renorm · January 21st, 2011, 7:09 pm

Wikipedia cobol article attributes the same quote to a report from 1997. Could be a bit outdated. English-like programming language?The good thing is that cobol was invented by English speaking folks and not by Germans with their 60 letter words.

Cuchulainn · January 21st, 2011, 7:13 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: renormWikipedia cobol article attributes the same quote to a report from 1997. Could be a bit outdated. English-like programming language?The good thing is that cobol was invented by English speaking folks and not by Germans with their 60 letter words.You need a pre-compiler spelling checker for this!