On Sat, 4 Apr 2020, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
On Sat, 4 Apr 2020, Jeffrey Brace via cctalk wrote:
https://josephsteinberg.com/covid-19-response-new-jersey-urgently-needs-cobol-programmers-yes-you-read-that-correctly/
On 4/4/20 9:47 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
In December 1999, they were looking for COBOL programmers.
To be fair, in 1999, everybody under the sun was looking for COBOL
programmers.
--Chuck
VERY TRUE.
New Jersey is and was far from unique. They are like every other similar
installation. We never fix things until we get desperate.
What percentage of managers INTEND to update their legacy code base?
In 1970, in my absolutely bottom of the totem pole job at Goddard Space
Flight Center, I questioned the use of 2 decimal digits for the year.
(FORTRAN) I was told, "don't be ridiculous. All of this will be redone
long before that, and WE won't be here to be held responsible".
That was also when I learned to write comments before writing code, since
they damn sure wouldn't tolerate taking time to add comments after the
program seemed to work.
The entire industry was "taken by surprise" when it came time to deal with
Y2K.
Not just the computer industry. I re-ordered check blanks from my bank in
late 1998. They came with "19______" preprinted for date.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
