From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 107f24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid107f24,public X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 10d15b,8c898456133be452,start X-Google-Attributes: gid10d15b,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 10259a,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid10259a,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 103d24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid103d24,public X-Google-Thread: 1164ba,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid1164ba,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-20 21:18:04 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!newsfeed.wirehub.nl!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Lao Xiao Hai Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.basic,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.perl,comp.lang.cobol Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? Date: Sun, 20 May 2001 21:15:24 -0700 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3B08965C.6F34D5C9@ix.netcom.com> References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> <9d6b6e$1bt$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87snihxiwc.fsf@frown.here> <9dbi83$sji$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87heyu7cqd.fsf@frown.here> <9dc20p$hh15e$1@ID-37382.news.dfncis.de> <9dclnt$9ic1@news.cis.okstate.edu> <3B02C05B.BA4B63C6@raytheon.com> Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 3f.35.af.94 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 21 May 2001 04:15:27 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7666 comp.lang.lisp:10417 comp.lang.smalltalk:9993 comp.lang.functional:5748 comp.lang.scheme:3932 comp.lang.perl:2855 comp.lang.cobol:9220 Date: 2001-05-21T04:15:27+00:00 List-Id: stephan@pcrm.win.tue.nl wrote: > I definitely nominate COBOL. It will have the added advantage that > whatever comes next will look as an improvement. (OK, there's still > INTERCAL). I assume this was a joke. In reality, there are still a lot of people successfully developing software with COBOL. Moreover, the current COBOL standard, and its planned successor, are both quite easy for applications developers to learn and use. One of COBOL's virtues has been that, in large corporations, people who understand the problem domain have been able to transition to the role of programmer and create solutions. Typically, these people have little training in computer science. They are able to learn on the job. I have seen a lot of excellent COBOL programmers who have made the leap from clerical jobs to programming jobs and who have done really good work. Also, COBOL is not going away anytime soon, contrary to popular opinion. And it is still better for business data processing applications than C++, any day of the week. I would have to say it is better for most of these kinds of applications than Perl or Scheme, Smalltalk or even Java. Ada might be the exception because it has a built-in decimal type and a well-defined Information Systems Annex. However, I don't see Ada replacing COBOL anytime soon any more than I see any of those other languages replacing it. COBOL continues to evolve and improve, but few in the programming community keep up-to-date about those changes. So many of them wrote it off long ago that they don't know how it has improved over what it once was. It is much like those who still criticize Ada based on the old Ada 83 standard or Smalltalk based on an outdated view of that language. Hmmmm. Maybe Ruby will do. :-) Richard Riehle