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Date:      Fri, 20 Dec 1996 09:27:21 -0800 (PST)
From:      Josef Grosch <jgrosch@superior.truenorth.org>
To:        kline@tera.com (Gary Kline)
Cc:        jgrosch@sirius.com, dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu, lenzi@bsi.com.br, brian@mediacity.com, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD beats SCO at its own game
Message-ID:  <199612201727.JAA01926@superior.truenorth.org>
In-Reply-To: <199612201647.IAA04872@athena.tera.com> from Gary Kline at "Dec 20, 96 08:47:43 am"

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>According to Josef Grosch:
>> >On Thu, 19 Dec 1996, Lenzi, Sergio wrote:
>> >

[ DELETED ]

>> >COBOL...it never dies! :)
>> >
>
>		Really.  (I wonder what the `mf' in `mfcobol'
>			  stands for... .)
>

MicroFocus COBOL. MicroFocus is know for it's COBOL tools on UNIX. HP get
their compiler from them. 

>> 
>> The common wisdom has approximately 75% to 85% of all existing code is
>> written in COBOL. Most of it is 15 to 20 years old and in bad need of a
>> rewrite. Your checking account at your bank is maintained by a badly
>> documented, bug ridden, 20 year old cobol program running on an IBM
>> mainframe. Be afraid, be very afraid.
>> 
>> [ DELETED ]
>> 
>> 
>
>		Does anybody know if there are any translators
>		available that can transform COBOL to another,
>		more manageable language?  FORTRAN, for example.
>
>		Trying to de-kink the rats' nests of 
>		billions and billions [good bye, Carl] lines of
>		COBOL is death.  --This prob'ly belongs on the
>		chat lists, but I'd be interested if there is
>		such a translator.   This list would probably
>		know.....
>
>		gary kline
>

I have spent a lot of time contracting in big COBOL/IBM shops in Chicago
and I have not heard of one. Their maybe several out there but considering
what a unholy mess the average legacy program is I doubt they are any good.
Keep in mind COBOL is almost as old as FROTRAN (1957 - 1958) and each
manufacture had their own spin on COBOL, adding little "features" and miss
implemting other languages components. Write a __GOOD__ translator and the
world will beat a path to your door.


Josef "Recovering COBOL hacker" Grosch

-- 
Josef Grosch       | Laugh while you can, monkey boy ! |    FreeBSD 2.1.6
jgrosch@sirius.com |          - John Warfin -          | UNIX for the masses



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