

Dead like COBOL - Is Java ready for replacement? - edw519
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-cobol.html?S_TACT=105AGX02&S_CMP=EDU

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elad
A co-worker, who worked with COBOL years ago, keeps getting phone calls
offering him COBOL jobs. Very highly paying COBOL jobs. He laughs at them.

In other words, a dead programming language doesn't mean that there's no
demand for it anymore. What it means is that good programmers won't touch it
with a stick.

So indeed, java developers shouldn't worry - they'll have plenty of jobs well
into the future - the platform is just too prevalent, and especially in
financial institutions that only recently moved over from java to COBOL, and
will take another 30 years to make the next move. On the other hand, if you
like programming and it's more than just a way to make a living, then java
isn't where you want to be.

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sofal
If false reports of Java's demise only have the effect of making some middle-
managers think twice before instinctively reaching for Java, they will at
least have done some good.

What I dislike is the easiness and frequency with which we label ourselves and
others as X developers for any given language X. As much as I use Java and
prefer to use Ruby, neither of those two language define me as a programmer.

People typically separate off into their different "communities", where the
boundaries are programming language boundaries, and they remain as loyal as
church members. Language loyalty can help a language become successful, but
does it have a net benefit in the software industry?

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dougp
Agriculture had to become an order of magnitude more productive to meet the
demands of a growing population. It did this through new technology. So Java
was farming the old way and with new xml libraries and closures it will become
an order of magnitude more productive just like farming. Do not worry java
developers the sky is not falling.

