COBOL is the language of finance. Most monetary transactions are run on machines using COBOL. If your young and want a secure future learn COBOL. You’ll be in high demand.
I loved machine code in college, so much control. Actually did my first video game in. (Part machine part basic…) BTW, if anybody wants to see some of my non-cartoon and non-sf writing: http://www.baseballticketsonline.org/things-i-wonder/
COBOL (common business oriented language) is credited to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. Without it we would not have the rest of the programming languages today. Before COBOL you programmed by wiring a board. There will always be jobs for COBOL programmers
With absolutely no knowledge of or training in it, I once got a B+ in a qualification test for COBOL programmers. When asked where I got my COBOL training, I said, “I have a degree in literature”.
Grace Hopper conceived of the “compiler”, which would translate human readable instructions into machine language. The language would be machine-independent and so work on different systems. She then developed the FLOW-MATIC language, and was technical consultant to the committee that extended her FLOW-MATIC into COBOL. If you’re a practicing or former COBOL person, have a look at the wikipedia article on Hopper’s FLOW-MATIC with example, very recognizable.
No one knew COBOL for awhile there. Then, the possibility of the Millenium Bug loomed large, and suddenly all the old programmers were the thing to have…
And I tend to get left out on days like this I was a nerd, but not a geek. I know languages like Dutch and Spanish and some Welsh, but not the programming kind. I depend on those who do to make computers possible for me to use…
My first computer language was BASIC; my second was Intel 8051 Assembler; my third was APL and my fourth was FORTH – nothing with much application in the real world.
The week before I was to attend a lecture by Grace Hopper, I was rummaging thru the desk of a recently retired old-timer at Sperry Univac. (His employee number was 000006.) There I found a pristine copy of a Flow-Matic programming manual which I had Hopper autograph.
She then said, “Oh, you’’ll be interested in this”, and she rummaged thru her overstuffed briefcase to pull out a copy of a copy of a copy of a mimeograph of her feasibility study for natural-language programming to Univac executives. She told me it was the biggest mistake of her career to include examples in Spanish and French because it delayed the project 6 months when management took the attitude that any computer built in the good-old U. S. of A. was only going to speak good-old American.
Later I saw an article that told that when she was working with Eckert and Mauchly on one of their early machines (Eniac? Binac?), she was tasked with designing a hardware box to accelerate trigonometric calculations. As a result she has been credited with inventing the SUBROUTINE! That’s like being the inventor of the BRICK! (E&M invented clay, no matter what that silly federal judge ruled about their patent on electronic computing.)
It’s rock-headed attitudes like “English is good enough for ’em” that keep us falling behind the rest of the world. Why bend and adapt when we can just hold our breath until they all give in?
I like the way COBOL deals with numbers. You have much more control, and you don’t have to mess with floating points. Not so great if you’re doing scientific calculations, but great for accounting!
After an introductory class that included FORTRAN and COBOL, I transferred from Computer Science to engineering so I would never need to use COBOL again. I had a lot more fun writing software to move flaps and fuel on airplanes that doing payroll.
COBOL was my second language (after BASIC), and I had to program on… punch cards. Taught me the value line numbers. Drop one 600+ card deck, and you’ll never forget to number your code again!
Dude that stuff was back in the dinosuar age when the Wfright brothers were still fooling around with Kitty Hawk. I’ll bet most of you young punks don’t even know what what the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks I’m talking about.
chireef over 12 years ago
Cobol is a computer language dating back to the 70s its said that it is the root language of Windows
Tog over 12 years ago
It was all very BASIC back then,
x_Tech over 12 years ago
Maybe MMM could resurrect the “B” language. You know the one Bell Labs discarded before creating “C”
x_Tech over 12 years ago
Tried to learn FORTRAN (Formula Translation) but the OUTPUT statements drove me nuts. Then I learned about RatFor (Rational FORTRAN). Nirvana
vwdualnomand over 12 years ago
cobol is the language of the devil.
Gokker over 12 years ago
COBOL is the language of finance. Most monetary transactions are run on machines using COBOL. If your young and want a secure future learn COBOL. You’ll be in high demand.
johnzakour Premium Member over 12 years ago
I loved machine code in college, so much control. Actually did my first video game in. (Part machine part basic…) BTW, if anybody wants to see some of my non-cartoon and non-sf writing: http://www.baseballticketsonline.org/things-i-wonder/
johnzakour Premium Member over 12 years ago
BTW2 back in the day, Cobol wasn’t THAT bad. Okay it was no SQL…
Plods with ...™ over 12 years ago
These guys have been around awhile.
Totalloser Premium Member over 12 years ago
COBOL (common business oriented language) is credited to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. Without it we would not have the rest of the programming languages today. Before COBOL you programmed by wiring a board. There will always be jobs for COBOL programmers
runar over 12 years ago
With absolutely no knowledge of or training in it, I once got a B+ in a qualification test for COBOL programmers. When asked where I got my COBOL training, I said, “I have a degree in literature”.
johnzakour Premium Member over 12 years ago
Grace Hopper came to my college to talk and sort of semi recruit geeks for the air force. She was an interesting woman.
Yukoneric over 12 years ago
Without Grace there would be no “bug”,
RalphZIggy over 12 years ago
Grace Hopper conceived of the “compiler”, which would translate human readable instructions into machine language. The language would be machine-independent and so work on different systems. She then developed the FLOW-MATIC language, and was technical consultant to the committee that extended her FLOW-MATIC into COBOL. If you’re a practicing or former COBOL person, have a look at the wikipedia article on Hopper’s FLOW-MATIC with example, very recognizable.
kageronin over 12 years ago
I thought Cobol was the home planet for the thirteen colonies, before Caprica, Saggitaria, Gemon, etc…
johnzakour Premium Member over 12 years ago
one of my finest young geek moments was writing a tic tac toe program in Basic on my Atari 800…
evangelyne over 12 years ago
No one knew COBOL for awhile there. Then, the possibility of the Millenium Bug loomed large, and suddenly all the old programmers were the thing to have…
scottartist creator over 12 years ago
And I tend to get left out on days like this I was a nerd, but not a geek. I know languages like Dutch and Spanish and some Welsh, but not the programming kind. I depend on those who do to make computers possible for me to use…
runar over 12 years ago
My first computer language was BASIC; my second was Intel 8051 Assembler; my third was APL and my fourth was FORTH – nothing with much application in the real world.
Pharmakeus Ubik over 12 years ago
Many of my less than fine moments were making those Atari 800s.
pschearer Premium Member over 12 years ago
The week before I was to attend a lecture by Grace Hopper, I was rummaging thru the desk of a recently retired old-timer at Sperry Univac. (His employee number was 000006.) There I found a pristine copy of a Flow-Matic programming manual which I had Hopper autograph.
She then said, “Oh, you’’ll be interested in this”, and she rummaged thru her overstuffed briefcase to pull out a copy of a copy of a copy of a mimeograph of her feasibility study for natural-language programming to Univac executives. She told me it was the biggest mistake of her career to include examples in Spanish and French because it delayed the project 6 months when management took the attitude that any computer built in the good-old U. S. of A. was only going to speak good-old American.
Later I saw an article that told that when she was working with Eckert and Mauchly on one of their early machines (Eniac? Binac?), she was tasked with designing a hardware box to accelerate trigonometric calculations. As a result she has been credited with inventing the SUBROUTINE! That’s like being the inventor of the BRICK! (E&M invented clay, no matter what that silly federal judge ruled about their patent on electronic computing.)
scottartist creator over 12 years ago
It’s rock-headed attitudes like “English is good enough for ’em” that keep us falling behind the rest of the world. Why bend and adapt when we can just hold our breath until they all give in?
krisl73 over 12 years ago
I like the way COBOL deals with numbers. You have much more control, and you don’t have to mess with floating points. Not so great if you’re doing scientific calculations, but great for accounting!
rb_bolin Premium Member over 12 years ago
After an introductory class that included FORTRAN and COBOL, I transferred from Computer Science to engineering so I would never need to use COBOL again. I had a lot more fun writing software to move flaps and fuel on airplanes that doing payroll.
robtgordon over 12 years ago
COBOL isn’t elegant but there are about a bazillion lines of COBOL code running on mainframes all over the world. It’s not going away any time soon.
MissMo over 12 years ago
COBOL was my second language (after BASIC), and I had to program on… punch cards. Taught me the value line numbers. Drop one 600+ card deck, and you’ll never forget to number your code again!
dirtking239 over 12 years ago
COBOL, like Latin is a dead language
Cannoneer over 12 years ago
Dude that stuff was back in the dinosuar age when the Wfright brothers were still fooling around with Kitty Hawk. I’ll bet most of you young punks don’t even know what what the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks I’m talking about.