C'mon you old Farts If you know COBOL You're Essential!

I was relieved when my responsibiliy at United Airlines transferred from maintaining assembler language programs to much easier COBOL programs.

I watched the stress on my father as he tried to update a system at a VA hospital and heard his daily assessments about the old system, so in short I dont think they could pay me enough to take on the challenge of up keep.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
I watched the stress on my father as he tried to update a system at a VA hospital and heard his daily assessments about the old system, so in short I dont think they could pay me enough to take on the challenge of up keep.

You mean they upgraded from stone and chisel??!!

I am 35 and have been asked to learn and use B, simula 67, fortran, and COBOL but mostly for research and education.

I remain unsurprised by the notion that governments would still be using systems older than their users to service unemployment claims.

a reply to: projectvxn

If you're used to highly structured and object oriented coding, you're going to have to adjust your way of thinking.

originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
a reply to: JAGStorm

although i think they were upgraded not sure couldn't find anything that said they were. back in 2014 the air force missile bases were unhackable due using 60's and 70's operating systems and floppy disks. hell the phones wouldn't even go to a outside line.

here's one report,

Jack Weinstein: I'll tell you, those older systems provide us some -- I will say huge safety when it comes to some cyber issues that we currently have in the world.
Lesley Stahl: Now, explain that.
Jack Weinstein: A few years ago we did a complete analysis of our entire network. Cyber engineers found out that the system is extremely safe and extremely secure on the way it's developed.
Lesley Stahl: Meaning that you're not up on the Internet kind of thing?
Jack Weinstein: We're not up on the Internet.
Lesley Stahl: So did the cyber people recommend you keep it the way it is?
Jack Weinstein: For right now, yes.
Who's minding the nukes?

if it ain't broke don't fix it.

16k of RAM weighed 8 lbs
Disk drives could be used as door stops or anchors for fishing boats

That's assembly.

a reply to: Gothmog

originally posted by: hombero
That's assembly.

a reply to: Gothmog

Star for you
Load accumulator with the value of register x

a reply to: underpass61

How about FORTRAN people?

That's what i was wondering... I still have a compiler here.

I loved FORTRAN. Just haven't used it in a while...

TheRedneck

a reply to: JAGStorm

Nope when he finally said F it I want to retire they still hadn't finished the swap over, he had tried to retire 6 years earlier and they begged him to stay let him manage the old system from home 60 days paid leave he looked at me and went well Snip I cant quit now... 6 years later he just went enough is enough.

a reply to: Gothmog

I wonder if many state unemployment systems still use reels of tape for storing data?

a reply to: Gothmog

Pages and pages and pages and pages of fanfold, laid out on the floor for debugging.

GOTO 17342 means crawl over to that corner of the room to find that piece of code.


And make sure your cards are well rubberbanded before putting them in your backpack and biking over to the computer center before the next batch run.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Gothmog

I wonder if many state unemployment systems still use reels of tape for storing data?

None , most likely .
You ought to see mainframes today....

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Gothmog

Pages and pages and pages and pages of fanfold, laid out on the floor for debugging.

GOTO 17342 means crawl over to that corner of the room to find that piece of code.


And make sure your cards are well rubberbanded before putting them in your backpack and biking over to the computer center before the next batch run.

Damn , you had to bring back memories of a previous life to me , huh ?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: projectvxn

If you're used to highly structured and object oriented coding, you're going to have to adjust your way of thinking.

Nah. Not a programmer anymore.

I'm more interested in electronics (theory and application) and devoting time to C++ insofar as I need it for control purposes.

a reply to: Gothmog

There's more.

Bike back over to the computer center 4 hours later to see if it worked and instead of the one page of output you're expecting the guy carries out a 30 page stack of paper.

Infinite loop abort.

Crap.

a reply to: JAGStorm

LOL...and sadly, I know COBOL....or at least did.

Thank you for this thread.
No matter how advanced the programming language , the CPU only knows "machine language".
As has always been.
Goth.

a reply to: Gothmog

What's it called when you don't even use an assembler? I did that with my ZX81. I don't even remember how I went about doing it, lots of poking I guess. It was really cool though, I could make a whole screen of dots move across the screen at the same time.

I used an assembler for my C64, that was way easier. Wrote Windmaster II with it. You may remember it. It was a wildly successful hang gliding game. Or maybe not.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Gothmog

What's it called when you don't even use an assembler? I did that with my ZX81. I don't even remember how I went about doing it, lots of poking I guess. It was really cool though, I could make a whole screen of dots move across the screen at the same time.

I used an assembler for my C64, that was way easier. Wrote Windmaster II with it. You may remember it. It was a wildly successful hang gliding game. Or maybe not.

Poke , peek is the same as push , pull and is direct machine language.
Poke loaded , peek pulled.
No assembly required.
Not even a screwdriver.

Wrote Windmaster II with it. You may remember it. It was a wildly successful hang gliding game. Or maybe not.

Was it published in RUN magazine ?