MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: if you like Eugene Jarvis

I haven't had a chance to listen to the podcast (yet), but plan to. Both my wife and I have decades of mainframe experience (her in data security protocols), and I in databases and programming. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems in 1995, and was in one of the last classes at the university for COBOL. Based on the way I was taught, COBOL is a great language to learn introduction to structured programming. It can be very powerful if coded correctly, only being surpassed by assembler (which is no longer taught in any university - at least on the mainframe platform) - yes, also learned mainframe assembler, as well as a number of other languages. My degree classes also taught me assembler on 8080 processors (I already had experience on 6502), C++, Java, and Microsoft Visual (C++, basic, web, etc.). Fortunately, my degree paid off during the Y2K era with having to decompile code that no longer had source available, and rebuild in COBOL and other languages. Most systems adopted a pivot year methodology that extended the life of the code out to 2025 or 2035, so I expect to have contracts for COBOL maintenance for those systems that haven't converted prior to those years. In addition, I found that a ton of state systems continue to use COBOL code to this day, and with universities no longer teaching the language, I expect to have coding contracts for at least a few more decades before retiring. Yes, everyone says COBOL is old, and easily dismisses it, but when you find a niche, you ride it out all the way simply because "it is what it is". You can't argue that.