this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2024
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Programming

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[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 21 points 1 week ago (3 children)

At Uni doing CompSci in the mid 1980s, we were told the likes of Cobol was dead, and we were taught Pascal :)

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Cobol is dead.

And I think it's about time to start telling people Java and Perl are dead, so they can marvel at how much Cobol and Java and Perl are still doing in production after death.

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's dead in a similar way to Latin where nobody learns it as a first language. Everyone who learns it does so for a specific purpose.

In Canada there are large organizations (including many in the government) who subsidize college courses on Cobol just to be able to get some fresh talent to learn it. In some cases they'll pay the tuition for the course entirely. Huge systems at the center of critical government functions still depend on Cobol .

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"Java/Cobol is dead like Latin"

I love that. I'm going to steal it.

Edit: And I acknowledge that when I say that about Java, I'm just trying to wind people up. Java is losing popularity fast, but is still a pretty common first language.

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

Can remote non-citizens apply? Asking for a friend.

[–] Comment105@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

They're not dead, they're alive and actively doing work. People want to change that and move on to a better dystopia.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

They could probably tweak Watson to turn Cobol into Pascal.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I took a Pascal class in Junior High summer school. I thought it was very weird compared to BASIC.