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=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f70a0a26406743fa X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-06-11 22:57:51 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-out.nuthinbutnews.com!propagator-sterling!news-in.nuthinbutnews.com!news-x2.support.nl!psinet-eu-nl!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-p3!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: [OT] On old languages (COBOL) Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 08:49:22 -0400 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: References: <3d05aa8e_1@news.tm.net.my> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 1023799763 6292 136.170.200.133 (11 Jun 2002 12:49:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 11 Jun 2002 12:49:23 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:25777 Date: 2002-06-11T12:49:23+00:00 List-Id: Interesting, but not really compelling. Cobol got its start at a time when there just plain wasn't anything else to address the needs of business programming. It was selling umbrellas in the middle of a rainstorm. Once it got its huge base of usage, it wasn't about to be unseated easily simply because of the huge investment in assets. Managers didn't need to understand the code - they understood the balance sheet. Any attempt to switch from what they had to something new was going to be horrendously costly, so technical advantages aside, they were going to stick with Cobol. Its important to understand that when thinking of advancing the usage of Ada. Its very hard - mostly impossible - to get existing projects unseated. If it was programmed in X - its going to stay in X until some time when it is declared outmoded and is supplanted by a whole new system. The secret to success is to have the guys building the whole new system convinced that Ada is a better choice. If we are the guys dreaming up and building the new systems, that is more likely to happen. MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com "Adrian Hoe" wrote in message news:3d05aa8e_1@news.tm.net.my... > > One of the reason COBOL still around is that its syntax is easily > understood by managers. Not C/C++. > > How about Ada? A whole bunch of managers don't even know what's Ada > and certainly its existence. Not to mention its technical merits. > These managers I refered to are business managers. > > Perhaps, if Ada were to have the COBOL-like syntax, it had already > became a legacy! ;-)