Perhaps I can add some clarity here. I worked for the California State Controller's office and was he primary technical support for it until I left in 1982, so I am very familiar with the system. I can confirm that most of it is written in COBOL, although I think characterizing it as a "Vietnam-era computer-language so outdated that many college students don't even bother to learn it anymore" is a statement designed to mis-label and malign a perfectly fine language. Point-of-fact: College students in the 1970's and early 1980's when this system was written didn't bother to learn COBOL either. It wasn't because it was so out-dated; it was because the computer science department didn't like COBOL for whatever reason. Many systems we use today were designed and built before the "Vietnam-era". Does that make them bad? That's the implication that the author is trying to make, and it certainly does not stand up to the most basic of challenges: truth.
Additionally, the payroll system is completely table-driven, for taxes and salaries, so this change should only take a short while to accomplish, not the six months asserted by controller John Chiang. Reading something like this makes one wonder about the veracity of all news reported. Tom Harper IMS Utilities Development Team NEON Enterprise Software, Inc. Sugar Land, TX -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Comstock Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 3:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Politics - California state computers can't handle pay cut, controller says - sacbee.com McKown, John wrote: > http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1132588.html > > <quote> > The massive pay cut would exhaust the state's antiquated payroll system, > which is built on a Vietnam-era computer language so outdated that many > college students don't even bother to learn it anymore. Huh? How does a pay cut exhaust a payroll system? What does that mean, to "exhaust a system"? > > ... > > The state payroll system is based on the COBOL, or Common Business > Oriented Language, programming language - a code first introduced in > 1959 and popularized in the 1960s and 1970s. > > "COBOL programmers are hard to come by these days," said Fred Forrer, > the Sacramento-based CEO of MGT of America, a public-sector consulting > firm. "It's certainly not a language that is taught. Oftentimes, you > have to rely on retired annuitants to come back and help maintain the > system until you're able to find a replacement." > > </quote> We can teach them young whippersnappers COBOL quickly. (But, of course, not for free!) Kind regards, -Steve Comstock The Trainer's Friend, Inc. 303-393-8716 http://www.trainersfriend.com z/OS Application development made easier * Our classes include + How things work + Programming examples with realistic applications + Starter / skeleton code + Complete working programs + Useful utilities and subroutines + Tips and techniques ==> Check out the Trainer's Friend Store to purchase z/OS <== ==> application developer toolkits. Sample code in four <== ==> programming languages, JCL to Assemble or compile, <== ==> bind and test. <== ==> http://www.trainersfriend.com/TTFStore/index.html <== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
