The Many Charms of COBOL

The Many Charms of COBOL

 During my studies in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), also known as East Germany, I immersed myself in the world of programming languages. My first companions on this journey were PL/1 and the ubiquitous assembler ASM370. Why these two? Well, the...

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Do Young People and the Mainframes Mix?

Do Young People and the Mainframes Mix?

In a recent YouTube post, Connor Pekovic a mainframe programmer at a large insurance company, addressed the question of whether pursuing a career in mainframe is a good idea in 2023. His answer is a fairly unequivocal “yes,” with multiple items on the “pros” side of...

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Still COBOL After All These Years?

Still COBOL After All These Years?

Have you seen the recent headlines? Wanted urgently: People who know a half century-old computer language so states can process unemployment claims (CNN 04/08/2020) and An Ancient Computer Language Is Slowing America’s Giant Stimulus (Bloomberg 04/13/2020). These...

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