COBOL, the incessant number cruncher

COBOL, the incessant number cruncher

Its 2024, so how come COBOL is still crunching the numbers for the world economy? Let’s figure it out... In March 2024 I gave a presentation to the UK MainframerZ group—a mainframe user forum—on the topic of COBOL. The organizers had asked for a quick-fire “15 facts...

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Information Technology: IT’s Key Ingredients

Information Technology: IT’s Key Ingredients

As COBOL reaches 65 years of loyal service to the IT world, our four-part homage attempts to answer how this veteran IT technology has been successful for so long. The COBOL programming language – which stands for Common Business Oriented Language – began life in...

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PART 2: COBOL— Thriving to survive

PART 2: COBOL— Thriving to survive

As COBOL reaches 65 years of loyal service to the IT world, this second piece in a four-part homage attempts to answer how a veteran IT technology has remained successful for so long. In the modern age, enterprise IT has grown in scale and complexity beyond...

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COBOL PART 3: The Experts’ View

COBOL PART 3: The Experts’ View

As COBOL reaches 65 years of loyal service in the IT world, this third piece in a four-part homage how a veteran IT technology has remained successful for so long. We previously introduced some of the reasons behind COBOL’s enduring success as a business language. Yet...

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PART 4: COBOL—The Road Ahead

PART 4: COBOL—The Road Ahead

The Ailments of Age We’ve come to the final installment of our homage to COBOL. Let’s look at the challenges it faces in the future. You do not reach 65 years without having endured some difficult experiences. COBOL bears those scars just as anything else would at...

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A Platform in its Prime?

A Platform in its Prime?

IBM Mainframe continues to defy naysayers by attracting new workload and offering peerless reliability. This year sees its latest incarnation unveiled. What sort of market does it face? Since Fujitsu announced its exit, the last remaining mainframe computer on the...

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