From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Commercial for a find-it service :

Scene, some big factory. The line has broken down.

Supervisor: "We need someone who can code COBOL".

Employee : "What is COBOL ???"

Naturally the service finds one.

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-06, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

Commercial for a find-it service :

Scene, some big factory. The line has broken down.

Supervisor: "We need someone who can code COBOL".

Employee : "What is COBOL ???"

Naturally the service finds one.

At a PPOE I was chatting with our new department head when
the office clown (whose name was Al Tannock) popped in and
said, "Say something in COBOL."

Our guy, without a pause, replied:

EXAMINE ROOM REPLACING ALL TANNOCKS WITH SPACES.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/7/26 01:33, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-06, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

Commercial for a find-it service :

Scene, some big factory. The line has broken down.

Supervisor: "We need someone who can code COBOL".

Employee : "What is COBOL ???"

Naturally the service finds one.

At a PPOE I was chatting with our new department head when
the office clown (whose name was Al Tannock) popped in and
said, "Say something in COBOL."

Our guy, without a pause, replied:

EXAMINE ROOM REPLACING ALL TANNOCKS WITH SPACES.

Been too long, I couldn't come up with something
like that in a hot second :-)

Not much you can't do with COBOL, the question is
whether you'd WANT to.

I just checked around and there are still a fair
number of COBOL development packages and IDEs
around.

It's not a dead language, it's just mostly doing
Lots Of Important Stuff quietly behind the scenes
since the 60s.

Downloaded OpenCobolIDE (writ in python) ... I remember
looking at it some years ago and it wasn't too bad.
Visual Studio has a COBOL extension, I think even Eclipse
has one.

Dammit ! Now my interest has been piqued - I'll HAVE to
write some handy bits in COBOL now !!!

Wrote some useful little utilities in FORTRAN, intended
to be land-mines for whomever replaced me on retirement.
Wonder if they've stepped on any yet ? Gen-Z would have
a seizure, maybe even latter Gen-X :-)

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Le 06-01-2026, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> a |-crit-a:

Commercial for a find-it service :

Scene, some big factory. The line has broken down.

Supervisor: "We need someone who can code COBOL".

Employee : "What is COBOL ???"

Naturally the service finds one.

I never heard about any big factory relying on COBOL in years. I don't
know if some do, but I don't believe it can be the majority. Now, the
COBOL is heavily used in bank systems. In France anyway, all the front
end have been migrated in java, but the back end is still in COBOL. And
the issue is not about old unknown code but about new projects. As
nobody learn COBOL anymore, when banks hired new developer, he needs to
be teach COBOL first.

So yes, if someone want to learn COBOL today he will be able to program
in COBOL until retirement (can someone who want to program in COBOL for
his entire life can be happy is another story). But the issues I see with
COBOL today is unrelated with your story.

Mostly new developers don't want to learn COBOL. They want to program
video games, AI or other new things. But programming back end COBOL for
banks don't attract new developers. So when someone learn computer
science in university it's not to program in COBOL. But when someone
learned Biology or other course without job opportunity, learning COBOL
is better than being jobless or working for Mc Donald or other low level
job.
--
Si vous avez du temps |a perdre :
https://scarpet42.gitlab.io
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 10 Jan 2026 14:33:57 GMT, St|-phane CARPENTIER wrote:

I never heard about any big factory relying on COBOL in years.

Major financial institutions donrCOt use it much. Guess what they use
instead?

<https://calpaterson.com/bank-python.html>
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/10/26 16:12, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On 10 Jan 2026 14:33:57 GMT, St|-phane CARPENTIER wrote:

I never heard about any big factory relying on COBOL in years.

Major financial institutions donrCOt use it much. Guess what they use instead?

<https://calpaterson.com/bank-python.html>

First off, this was a TV commercial. COBOL is still
widely in place, but not so much if factory settings.
Probably STILL involved in creating yer govt checks
and processing yer taxes though.

You CAN run factory equipment with COBOL if you
want however ...

Yes, Python is the New Standard ... and it's not
a bad choice either. Flexible, capable, more or
less comprehensible, WELL supported.

But COBOL is still out there, often in the dark
corners you never think about. Writing replacement
software is now VERY expensive and the expertise
isn't what it was in the 60s - so they just keep
the COBOL code alive. Hell, the US IRS keeps the
ancient BOXES working so they can run the ancient
COBOL code ... who still maintains IBM-360s and
the like anymore, and for HOW MUCH MONEY ?

However note my next post ... about biz and
the death of "programmer" as a profession.

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 10/01/2026 14:33, St|-phane CARPENTIER wrote:

But when someone
learned Biology or other course without job opportunity, learning COBOL
is better than being jobless or working for Mc Donald or other low level
job.

Precisely. Back in the day I had a GF with a biochemistry degree. The
only work she could get was in explosives (S Africa)....a switch to
COBOL was a life changer...
--
"An intellectual is a person knowledgeable in one field who speaks out
only in others...rCY

Tom Wolfe

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 11/01/2026 02:47, c186282 wrote:

Hell, the US IRS keeps the
-a ancient BOXES working so they can run the ancient
-a COBOL code ... who still maintains IBM-360s and
-a the like anymore, and for HOW MUCH MONEY ?

I think modern PCs running IBM Linux are extremely happy to run
recompiled 360 flavoured legacy COBOL.

There may even be 360 emulators out there. (Hercules?)
--
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the
very definition of slavery.

Jonathan Swift


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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/10/26 14:33, St|-phane CARPENTIER wrote:

Mostly new developers don't want to learn COBOL. They want to program
video games, AI or other new things. But programming back end COBOL for
banks don't attract new developers. So when someone learn computer
science in university it's not to program in COBOL. But when someone
learned Biology or other course without job opportunity, learning COBOL
is better than being jobless or working for Mc Donald or other low level
job.

Most of my career I worked on banking systems, I've never seen Cobol.
I'm not saying it isn't there, just not on any system I ever came into
contact with.

I suspect McDonald's promotes people capable of writing software.
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Le 11-01-2026, Pancho <Pancho.Jones@protonmail.com> a |-crit-a:

On 1/10/26 14:33, St|-phane CARPENTIER wrote:

Mostly new developers don't want to learn COBOL. They want to program
video games, AI or other new things. But programming back end COBOL for
banks don't attract new developers. So when someone learn computer
science in university it's not to program in COBOL. But when someone
learned Biology or other course without job opportunity, learning COBOL
is better than being jobless or working for Mc Donald or other low level
job.

Most of my career I worked on banking systems, I've never seen Cobol.
I'm not saying it isn't there, just not on any system I ever came into contact with.

I've never worked on banking systems. But I've been in touch with people
who have. And they all told me the same: for the front end there is no
more need of Cobol since years, but the back end is a different story.

I suspect McDonald's promotes people capable of writing software.

Of course they do. What I mean is: when you have a PhD in biology you
can't expect to get hired like a people capable of writing software. But
you can get hired as someone capable to sell hamburgers. With a huge
difference in salary. But when you have a PhD in biology, for every
available job, there are more than ten of people wanting to have it. So,
if you are among the nine reminding one, you can expect to be hired by a desperate bank which will be willing teach you programming for a lower
salary than a ready programmer but much higher than an hamburger seller.

OK, the bank won't hire you directly, a digital service company (I don't
know the English translation, sorry) will take care of that.
--
Si vous avez du temps |a perdre :
https://scarpet42.gitlab.io
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