
Cobol: Letters that if put on CV would ensure stable income for greybeard coder - protomyth
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/16/cobol_at_60/
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maxharris
> Longtime maintainer Micro Focus has cannily been promoting the language as a
> standard that can integrate with other

Sigh, this is just Micro Focus astroturfing. Their secret is that they don't
want COBOL to die, because they know they can't keep selling their stuff when
it does.

I worked on a COBOL project for a year. Dealing with the Micro Focus sales
person sucked because it was clear they were sizing me up and trying to figure
out how to get the most money. They ended up extracting $3000 from me for a
slow compiler that ran on Solaris and was saddled with invasive "license
management" crap. It wouldn't even install cleanly - I had to be in contact
with their support people just to get it going.

COBOL the language is also terrible. It was designed by a committee, and it
shows. You can't really declare local variables!

So I think Micro Focus is doing us all a disservice. If you have legacy COBOL
software, just rewrite it already. I know this is painful, and some
organizations think they can't. But that's just a mirage. Rip the band-aid
off, because it will be cheaper and more maintainable in the long run if you
do.

