I would like to know if COBOL is still used commenly, because I don''t like programming in it at all.

As far as I know, COBOL was used to fix some Y2K problems with programs written in it, but it''s not really used anymore mainstream. And not at all in games, as far as I have heard.

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Jonathan Little
invader@hushmail.com
http://www.crosswinds.net/~uselessknowledge

well the company i work for uses it for background programs for one set of applications, and the entire system for another which is about 10 to 15 exe and about 1,000 lib,and dll''s but this is slowly changeing.

Well I hate COBOL but I have to study it in school, lukily we have c++ to but its far to easy. Oh well, good thing I can fool around with game-programming

Well i can''t resist, here''s my favourite quote

"The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence."
-Dijkstra

Crousto, so i can seek retribution now

I felt incredibly stupid and helpless when I was doing homework assignments in COBOL. I am an otherwise very good programmer and can solve all sorts of problems, but when it came to COBOL, I couldn''t make heads or tails of anything. Nothing made logical sense. No local variables, no function return values, no function arguments, no structs, no assignment operator! . This is just scratching the surface. It was built backwards and is counter-productive..

I read recently that there are more professional COBOL programmers in the world than any other language. So - COBOL is still used. A lot of companies are now employing programmers to write new COBOL programs. The reasoning for this is simple: COBOL is very good at representing business rules (thats what it was intended for in the first place!). Many businesses have COBOL-based back-ends. As web-based ordering/stock control systems take off a need for middleware to link old COBOL back-ends to web front-ends is emerging. COBOL is often the best way to interface with an old COBOL-based system. So COBOL systems are still being written every day. So learning COBOL is not a useless skill. Remember: every language has an intended use. Just because COBOL isn''t designed for the same types of thing as C, it isn''t necessarily "worse".

Also, COBOL is like any other language in that if you learn it properly the essentials you learn carry over to almost any other language. LISP is equally hard for the hardboiled C++ addict to figure out - but its still an extremely valuable skill to have in some types of programming work!

we''re talking about something that was created during the prehistoric age of computers!

actually, computers didnt even exist when COBOL was created, just very basic mainframes. the language (i wouldnt call it a language per se) basically was revised a few times to "modernize" it, based on concepts 10 years old. a company that still uses COBOL is a company i wouldnt set foot in. it reeks of "i refuse to accept new technology".

it''s more of a scripting language, in that it is SO limited that it can only be used to perform SPECIFICALLY what it was intended to.

there''s also the psychological aspect. it reduces the programmer to nothing more than a typist and takes away his intellect (COBOL programs are LONG). the language isnt designed to express solutions to problems using code, but rather typing out long brute force solutions using strictly imposed syntax.

it was designed to be "english-like". well, guess what, if i want to see "english like", i''ll read a book! code should never be read like a book.

my GOD, what an abomination! (glad i got that one off my chest)