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 IBM-compatible mainframes produced in the GDR often had as much memory as a modern pocket calculator – almost nothing! So, we had to work with what we had, and that meant that we had to use particularly efficient and memory-saving programming languages.
Imagine trying to cook a feast in a tiny kitchen – every inch of space and every tool becomes important. It was the same with programming these machines. COBOL was mentioned in college, but only in theory – like a recipe book you never use. It was there, but nobody really touched it.
“Mainframes produced in the GDR often had as much memory as a modern pocket calculator – almost nothing!”
In my first job, I was almost exclusively doing assembler programming. I felt like a digital watchmaker, carefully putting every bit and byte in its place. Then one day, the head of an IT department suddenly showed up. He asked me to analyze the sources he had received from a colleague and prepare them for practical use.
And those sources were… COBOL!
At first, of course, I was surprised. The structure of the program was much more restrictive and typed, structured in DIVISIONS and SECTIONS, than I was used to in PL/1. It was as if I suddenly had a cookbook in my hands that told me exactly how to prepare each dish. But the more I got into it, the more I was taken with the simplicity and comprehensibility of the language.
COBOL was like a well-organized closet – everything had its place and was easy to find. It was an interesting experience that showed me that order and structure have a place in the world of programming.
However, I never expected to enjoy working with COBOL so much…
And so it was “business as usual” at first, although I found more and more pleasure in the language and its possibilities. Around the same time, I also met Microsoft COBOL on a PC, which finally prompted me to get more involved with it.
Along with CICS, I delved deeper and deeper into the world of COBOL. I was always amazed at how easy it was to implement complex business logic. COBOL fascinated me because it allowed me to write sophisticated applications without drowning in a sea of brackets and cryptic characters.
Who knew COBOL could be so much fun?
And I’ve been a proud “Cobolian” ever since, even if not 100%. The language has had a significant impact on my career, from systems programmer to application programmer and back again to my current position as a Lead Modernization Architect.
“COBOL is just fun, whether on the mainframe or the PC.”
COBOL is just fun, whether on the mainframe or the PC It’s like a trusty old friend, always there when you need it.
Over the past few years, I have made it my mission to introduce COBOL to the next generation of programmers-whether they are interns or recent graduates. My goal? To get them excited about the language. Because honestly, who can resist the charms of COBOL? It’s like the good old wine of programming languages: The older, the better!