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1. nixCraft 🐧 (nixcraft@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:07:58 JST nixCraft 🐧

   I recently saw an IBM presentation on how AI will help eliminate COBOL once and for all. Basically, they are trying to sell a tool that uses their WatsonX cloud service to convert COBOL to Java with the help of the current buzzword named generative AI. Let me tell you, COBOL has outlasted most of the tech that was invented since 1965 and I think it will outlast generative AI, too.

   • R (foo__@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:08:50 JST R

     in reply to

     @nixCraft ain't gonna happen

   • Akari Mekahime (mekahimeakari@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:09:12 JST Akari Mekahime

     in reply to

     @nixCraft have techbros reinvented the source-to-source transpiler?

   • nixCraft 🐧 (nixcraft@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:15:55 JST nixCraft 🐧

     in reply to

     • leyrer

     @leyrer haha.

   • leyrer (leyrer@chaos.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:15:56 JST leyrer

     in reply to

     @nixCraft so Cobol is the cockroach of the programming languages? ;)

   • nixCraft 🐧 (nixcraft@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:41:28 JST nixCraft 🐧

     in reply to

     Meanwhile, kids are asking on other social media why not use NodeJS instead of Java. Good god, we are doomed, aren't we?

   • Alex, just zis guy, you know? (alexmorse@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 05:59:11 JST Alex, just zis guy, you know?

     in reply to

     @nixCraft both terrible terrible options.

   • pedestrian cyclist (odoruhako@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 06:16:47 JST pedestrian cyclist

     in reply to

     @nixCraft Awesome. AI is going to fail so big. If they have to double down from "let's replace search engines", "cure cancer" and "make human artists obsolete" to "let's replace COBOL", there is no limit to what they will promise.

   • StaringAtClouds (staringatclouds@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 06:31:04 JST StaringAtClouds

     in reply to

     @nixCraft There are legacy systems out there that use COBOL or MUMPS or Modula II or some qother supposedly dead languages

     They run on obsolete hardware

     And people pay a fortune for tech bods with the skills to maintain them

     They do this because, often despite many attempts, they've failed to develop a modern system that will process, or sometimes even access, the data & give the same output

     I will try not to point & laugh when AI also fails to solve the issue

   • crazyeddie (crazyeddie@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 06:41:44 JST crazyeddie

     in reply to

     @nixCraft It was offered at the college I went to and some just begged and begged me to tutor them until I relented. I didn't know COBOL at all but I was able to help them through...at great personal cost. Migraine is putting it lightly and it lasted for hours after.

     It's not particularly hard...it's just tedious and I think you can only like it if you like filling out the original punch cards it was used for but on a screen. AI deserves it. I'm not sorry. I hope it can feel pain.

   • Owen Tyme (owentyme@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 06:48:23 JST Owen Tyme

     in reply to

     @nixCraft "We're all mad here and it's okay."

     https://sjtucker.bandcamp.com/track/cheshire-kitten-were-all-mad-here

   • Jonathan M. (hstone32@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 07:26:16 JST Jonathan M.

     in reply to

     @nixCraft everything I'll ever write will be in C. Try and stop me.

   • lordjeff (lordjeff@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 07:27:37 JST lordjeff

     in reply to

     @nixCraft god I'd hate to do that job; took 3 courses in cobalt as a comp sci student... hated every one of them

   • MegatronicThronBanks (megatronicthronbanks@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 07:58:36 JST MegatronicThronBanks

     in reply to

     @nixCraft I agree

   • your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦 (blogdiva@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 08:08:44 JST your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

     in reply to

     @nixCraft i was created by a woman, so… yeah.

   • Jeff Grigg (jeffgrigg@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 09:16:43 JST Jeff Grigg

     in reply to

     @nixCraft

     I recently saw a presentation where they said that Generative AI will solve the mainframe-COBOL problem for us by explaining what COBOL programs do, line by line, in plain English.

     I'm like, ...
     "Excuse me, ...
     Have you looked at the COBOL program you're translating to 'plain English sentences'?
     What do you think a COBOL program *IS*?"
     (... and was always designed to be.)

     🙄

   • Zorro Notorious MEB 🪷🪷🪷 (algocompsynth@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 09:37:18 JST Zorro Notorious MEB 🪷🪷🪷

     in reply to

     @nixCraft I'm fine with eliminating COBOL. I'm not fine with Java as its replacement. Replace it with a young language like Rust.

   • Kingauther (kingauther@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 09:45:22 JST Kingauther

     in reply to

     @nixCraft https://bit.ly/3XHSfSq

   • WTL (wtl@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 09:46:18 JST WTL

     in reply to

     @nixCraft Yup.

   • Eva Chaos (eva_chaos@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 10:49:27 JST Eva Chaos

     in reply to

     @nixCraft

     Soooo, that means we're going to outsource DoD payroll to India?

   • Bynkii (they/them) (bynkii@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 12:11:13 JST Bynkii (they/them)

     in reply to

     • BrianKrebs

     @nixCraft @briankrebs COBOL has the annoying habit of being incredibly well-suited for its job.

   • a female Faust (femalefaust@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 12:18:30 JST a female Faust

     in reply to

     @nixCraft why? i mean it. i don't understand enough to get it but want to.

   • catdad76 (catdad76@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 12:47:41 JST catdad76

     in reply to

     @nixCraft you sound old

   • Radio Azureus (radioazureus@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 12:54:23 JST Radio Azureus

     in reply to

     @nixCraft If you didn't write a meme...

     The inability to distinguish between totally different systems means:
     They don't know 'man command'
     They are inept to use DuckDuckGo
     They can't write a 'hello world' in a new language

     #bash #sh #zsh #ksh #csh #100DaysOfCode #Linux #POSIX #Programming

   • Felichs (felichsdakatze@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 14:05:16 JST Felichs

     in reply to

     @nixCraft
     if it was an investor presentation then it makes perfect sense. Hype up the money coming in, hand pick a few test cases, put a case study on your website, then get more clients.

     Once the contract is signed, hope sunk cost fallacy prevails, along with a small dose of can't turn back now.

     Running systems in parallel never happens due to a "replacement" project, right?

   • Dr. Mastodonocologist (okanogen@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 14:21:07 JST Dr. Mastodonocologist

     in reply to

     @nixCraft
     Ok. Barely programming #sysadmin here, so please excuse my ignorance.
     Why not just teach folks to use COBOL?

   • Björn 🎃 Starkimarm (starkimarm@23.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 15:58:53 JST Björn 🎃 Starkimarm

     in reply to

     @nixCraft
     What, nobody has posted the relevant abstrusegoose yet?

   • John_J_Ireland53 (john_j_ireland53@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 16:10:20 JST John_J_Ireland53

     in reply to

     @nixCraft Is COBOL still around? None of my students even knew what FORTRAN was.

   • MaybeMyMonkeys (maybemymonkeys@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 16:44:04 JST MaybeMyMonkeys

     in reply to

     @nixCraft Java is the next COBOL, so it should be skipped entirely. BTW, there is nothing wrong with COBOL, but there is profit in convincing people there is.

   • Kees de Kooter 🍋 (kdekooter@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 02-Oct-2024 17:19:51 JST Kees de Kooter 🍋

     in reply to

     @nixCraft At best you will get totally incomprehensible, untestable, unmaintainable, incorrect Java in return.

     How long do we have to endure this non-solution looking for a non-problem?

   • steppl (steppl@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Oct-2024 00:44:10 JST steppl

     in reply to

     @nixCraft

     I guess COBOL is similar to PFAS - it will last for loooooo....ng

   • MichelBillaud (michelbillaud@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Oct-2024 01:01:39 JST MichelBillaud

     in reply to

     @nixCraft https://wumpus-cave.net/post/2024/10/2024-10-01-death-of-cobol/index.html