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From: smaug@eng.umd.edu (Kurt Lidl)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: CALL FOR DISCUSSION: comp.lang.cobol
Summary: Just 'cause its there doesn't mean you have to like it...
Keywords: COBOL, Dead Language
Message-ID: <1989Nov21.013021.4170@eng.umd.edu>
Date: 21 Nov 89 01:30:21 GMT
References: <480@enea.se>
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Reply-To: smaug@eng.umd.edu (Kurt Lidl)
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In article <480@enea.se> sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog) writes:
>About all major programming languages have their own newsgroup,
>but Cobol has not.

Yeah, ain't it great?

>Yet is the Cobol probably the most common
>language used in the software industry. The reason that Cobol
>doesn't have a newsgroup are quite obvious. Usenet has its
>roots in technical environments where Cobol is little used.

USENET is also (at least for me) an instrument for INCREASING
the level of computer technology -- not reducing it.  I would
hate to see the net being used as a means of saddling some
person with COBOL -- when the project could and probably should
be re-coded in something a little more modern.

>But times are changing. Usenet are spreading into administrative
>environments. And technical and administrative are getting
>closer to each other. Myself, an electrical engineer, had to
>learn some Cobol for my current project. And, undoubtedly
>the number of Cobol articles in comp.lang.misc are increasing.
>OK, it's no deluge of Cobol articles, but what about it?

Had to?  Or was that simply the path of least resistance?  I have
had to fight previous battles to have some things done correctly,
even if that means re-coding entire sections of code.  Spend a
little time and consider the future...

>According the guidelines I calling for discussion now, and
>will call for votes (unless I'm severely discouraged) December
>3rd and close the vote on Christmas Eve.

Please don't.

>Cobol is not dead, it just smells funny.

Yes, an unpleasant fact of the industry.  But please, don't help
propogate this foolishness.

>Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se

--
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