As a COBOL programmer for almost 27 years I agree that COBOL should not be dismissed. Though, as someone who has "studied" 30+ other languages I would say that COBOL is somewhat unique and if it's your first and primary language it may cause hardships when trying to learn other languages. But I absolutely agree that the dismissal of COBOL programmers is, well, not very nice to say the least. ________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf of Farley, Peter <0000031df298a9da-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2023 11:55 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> Subject: Stop the ragging on COBOL please [was: RE: ASM call by value]
I am getting increasingly tired of snide or outright dismissive references to COBOL and by extension to COBOL programmers. Programmers like me. Yes, I am also well versed in HLASM, Rexx, awk and gawk, somewhat facile in SORT (at least as far as knowing and using JOIN's), SQL, JCL and various other z/OS utilities, MetalC, and lately python and bash scripting. I even remember some of the PL/I and Fortran and Pascal I used in college and my early employment days. I even remember some SNOBOL, which I actually got to use productively at a then-major NY bank very early in my career. COBOL pays my bills and keeps my employer operating successfully and profitably. COBOL does NOT rot the brain. Alcohol and various other legal and illegal substances can, in fact, do that. Intelligently devising business solutions to business problems in ANY computer language does NOT rot the brain. It is not funny or acceptable to say so. It never was. Peter -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2023 8:14 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: ASM call by value On Sun, 26 Mar 2023 23:18:49 +0000, Frank Swarbrick wrote: <Snipped> >In COBOL, for example, the following end up doing the same thing. > Do not use CO BOL as an exemplar of programming discipline. Cobol rots the brain. -- This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
