| Walt Mankowski via plug on 12 Apr 2022 06:29:09 -0700 |
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| Re: [PLUG] Fw: [plug-announce] Tue Apr 12 - PLUG North - "Modern Cobol" by Elizabeth Joseph and Walt Mankowski (7pm EDT online) |
Hi Steve, Thanks for advertising tonight's meeting on your list. Hopefully we'll get a nice crowd! There's a lot to unpack here. I'll cover some of it in the talk. Other points I won't since my talk is structured as a gentle introduction to why COBOL is the way it is, rather than a tutorial on everything you can do in COBOL. Walt On Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 02:11:27AM -0400, Steve Litt via plug wrote: > Hi all, > > Tuesday 4/12/2022 at 7pm Eastern time sharp, Philly Lug (not the Phoenix > LUG we usually pair up with) presents on COBOL via Jitsi, > https://meet.jit.si/PLUGNorthApril2022 . I might be there. Some facts > about COBOL you might not know: > > * The language has built in indexed sequential files for lightning fast > data access. > > * Many modern COBOLs can interface to many modern SQL databases. > > * Millions and millions of lines of 40 year old COBOL are still doing > their job quite well. Same software, always improving hardware. > > * All COBOL programs were either abandoned or Y2K retrofitted in the > late 1990's, so there are no foreseeable cataclysms coming down the > pike. > > * Although many or most businesses rewrote their software in other > languages, some saw the performance of Java, C++, Python, PHP, Perl, > Note.js, React, Vue, Rails and the like and said nahhh, I'll just keep > updating my COBOL. > > * COBOL is very, very good at massive data manipulation. > > * The majority of COBOL programmers are in old peoples' homes or in > that great data center in the sky (with GoLUGgers Homer Whitaker and > Gary Miller), so there are very few competent COBOL programmers > remaining. > > * COBOL programmers are so needed that companies are training young > people to program COBOL on the company dime. > > * It's not easy to get a COBOL job because the jobs are hidden away, > but work at good pay can be gotten by someone somewhat proficient at > COBOL and proficient at searching for work. > > * COBOL has very little Geek Pazazz, so COBOL programmers might have > less competition than you might imagine. > > * COBOL changes very slowly, so it's a pretty good profession for the > programmer with other priorities such as kids, spouse and family. > > * If you're 45 right now, it's conceivable you could learn COBOL and > make a living with COBOL until you're in your 70's. I'm not so sure > I'd recommend it to a 20 year old. > > * COBOL stands for COmmon Business Oriented Language, created > approximately in 1960. It was made for business. > > * COBOL has built in sort and merge. This was a very big deal before > the mid 1980's, when separate merge programs became cheaper. Unix > had a sort program early, I don't know how early. In a big, hairy > program, it's still nice to handle this kind of stuff in-house. > > * COBOL can do recursion: > https://www.microfocus.com/documentation/visual-cobol/VC23/VS2015/HHPTCHPTIP12.html > > * COBOL has a type called "procedure-pointer", which I believe can > empower COBOL to use and be used as a callback function: > https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/developer-for-zos/9.1.1?topic=clause-procedure-pointer-phrase > > * COBOL now has Object Orientation if you want to use it. > > * COBOL was created in 1960 or > thereabouts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL > > * In college (1983) I personally created a COBOL program whose input > was a COBOL program's source code and whose output was a hierarchy > diagram showing all loops, branches, and paragraph calls. > > SteveT > > > > ============================================================== > Begin forwarded message: > > Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2022 19:04:25 -0400 > From: Walt Mankowski via plug-announce via plug > <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> To: plug-announce@lists.phillylinux.org > Subject: [PLUG] [plug-announce] Tue Apr 12 - PLUG North - "Modern > Cobol" by Elizabeth Joseph and Walt Mankowski (7pm EDT online) > > > Last minute change of plans! > > Thanks to the COBOL discussion today, we're going to devote this > month's meeting to Modern COBOL. > > First, PLUG North welcomes back Elizabeth Joseph. Liz is a developer > advocate at IBM. She'll be on the call from 7-8 PM to talk about a > new report from the Open Mainframe Project COBOL Working Group. Then > I'll be giving an encore presentation of a talk I did at PLUG back in > 2017 called "Secrets of the dead: What modern programmers can learn > from COBOL". > > For what to expect, Liz says her part will be "not so formal, but > chatty". I've got a proper presentation, but it's more about giving a > flavor of what programming in COBOL is like vs a formal tutorial. > > We'll be using Jitsi Meet, a free and open source videoconferencing > platform, for the meeting. The meeting will start at 7 PM EDT (2300 > UTC). Liz can only stay on until 8 so we'll try to start promptly at 7 > this month. > > You can access the meeting online at > > https://meet.jit.si/PLUGNorthApril2022 > > Jitsi Meet also has apps for iOS and Android. If you decide to > use one of those apps, use meeting code "PLUGNorthApril2022". > > On Sat, Apr 09, 2022 at 02:39:39PM -0400, Walt Mankowski via > plug-announce via plug wrote: > > PLUG North will be meeting on Tuesday, April 12, beginning at 7pm ETC > > (2300 UTC). The meeting will be online. Details are at the bottom of > > the email. > > > > We don't have a speaker, so this month's meeting will be a general > > discussion of all things Linux and Open Source. > > > > We'll be using Jitsi Meet, a free and open source videoconferencing > > platform, for the meeting. The meeting will start at 7 PM. > > > > You can access the meeting online at > > > > https://meet.jit.si/PLUGNorthApril2022 > > > > Jitsi Meet also has apps for iOS and Android. If you decide to > > use one of those apps, use meeting code "PLUGNorthApril2022". > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > plug-announce mailing list > > plug-announce@lists.phillylinux.org > > http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- > > http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General > > Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > _______________________________________________ > plug-announce mailing list > plug-announce@lists.phillylinux.org > http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > ___________________________________________________________________________ > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org > Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___________________________________________________________________________ > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org > Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug