Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Development
    • Development

    Is COBOL the 18-Wheeler of the Web?

    By
    Peter Coffee
    -
    May 19, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      If youre looking for a hot combination of highly employable skills, consider writing code to provide Web services–in COBOL.

      Can a person build a 21st-century IT career on this 1960s foundation? Well, foundations are better than shifting sands. Legacy Reserves, a databank for over-35 IT pros, cites Gartner estimates that retirement and death will shrink the population of working COBOL coders by 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, even while 15 percent of all new applications are being written in the language–and quotes the GIGA Group as predicting that “The most highly paid programmers in the next ten years are going to be COBOL programmers who know the Internet.”

      It doesnt matter whether you enter the world of Web services through the door marked “.Net” or the one labeled “Java” (and after all, the whole point is to avoid being locked into either one). Fujitsus NetCOBOL for .Net produces Common Language Runtime code that integrates with Microsoft languages like C# and Visual Basic .Net; Micro Focus plans to do the same by summer. Fujitsu has also commissioned a multimedia training course, with textbook, for developers who want to learn more.

      Meanwhile, at GigaWorld IT Forum last week in Phoenix, Micro Focus rolled out its Enterprise Server platform for COBOL/J2EE integration. LegacyJ Corp.s PERCobol takes another road, compiling 15 dialects of COBOL source code to Java Virtual Machine executables. And earlier this month, Acucorp announced forthcoming release of its extend6 lineup of COBOL-based integration tools for XML–along with file system extensions for handling large objects, such as images and other multimedia, in record sizes as large as 64 megabytes.

      One of my sons favorite T-shirts bears an IBM COBOL logo, along with a cartoon drawing of a shark in sunglasses and a quotation from one of my columns. Though its often called a dinosaur, I argued in that column that COBOL better resembles the shark: Its been ruling its niche since the beginning, with a plausible challenger yet to emerge.

      But if you query Google with “Java,” youll get almost 34 million hits. Ask Amazon.com about Java books, and youll find more than 2,000 titles. Do the same things with “COBOL” as the search term, and youll get fewer than 1 million Google results and only 700 books. I wonder what language is being used to cut the paychecks of all those Java coders?

      To paraphrase the old proverb about accomplishments and credit, theres no limit to how much work a language can do if its vendors and practitioners dont care who gets the buzz. But if the COBOL community wants to know why it gets so little street cred, perhaps it should take a collective look in the mirror. Follow that first Google hit to The COBOL Center, and youll find a “COBOL News” list whose leading items are mostly past their first birthday: Of the six news items on that home page as of last week, only one bears a 2003 date. Hype alone is certainly not sufficient, but a modest amount may be a necessary catalyst to the production of future talent.

      It takes a while to refill the pipeline of critical skills, after we notice that its running dry. If were going to need people in, say, 2008 who have current knowledge of the Internet and the Web, practiced skills in writing COBOL code that can use those network resources, and five to 10 years of experience in leading a development team, now is not too soon to start developing those assets.

      Draw me your COBOL road map.

      Read More From Peter Coffee:

      Peter Coffee
      Peter Coffee is Director of Platform Research at salesforce.com, where he serves as a liaison with the developer community to define the opportunity and clarify developers' technical requirements on the company's evolving Apex Platform. Peter previously spent 18 years with eWEEK (formerly PC Week), the national news magazine of enterprise technology practice, where he reviewed software development tools and methods and wrote regular columns on emerging technologies and professional community issues.Before he began writing full-time in 1989, Peter spent eleven years in technical and management positions at Exxon and The Aerospace Corporation, including management of the latter company's first desktop computing planning team and applied research in applications of artificial intelligence techniques. He holds an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Pepperdine University, he has held teaching appointments in computer science, business analytics and information systems management at Pepperdine, UCLA, and Chapman College.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×