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From: The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Rewriting SSA. Is This A Chance For GNU/Linux?
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 10:53:24 +0100
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On 02/04/2025 23:36, rbowman wrote:
> On Wed, 2 Apr 2025 22:46:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> 
>> So, to the complexity of handling old code, you add the complexities of
>> translating to another language.
>>
>> Keep it simple: use today's COBOL. Less translation effort. Fewer
>> errors.
> 
> The problem may be finding competent COBOL programmers. That leads me to
> another question. Presumably the SSA and other government agencies
> currently employ COBOL programmers. What have they been doing the last
> fifty years?
> 
> A more important question might be what have their managers been doing?
> There is no question a re-write would be very painful and expensive. For a
> government agency there isn't a market force to improve so what would
> trigger them doing anything to rock the boat?
> 
The problem is that say 50 years ago someone brought in a COBOL house - 
might have been IBM - to analyse the business and write COBOL.

Then they left.

For a few years they paid a maintenance contract and those guys came 
back and fixed every bug and write all the extensions needed.

The the accountants noticed that no one had called them in for two 
years, and cancelled the maintenance contract.

And that was 40 years ago.

And its worked ever since.

Round wheels still work. Even wooden ones

-- 
There’s a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons 
that sound good.

Burton Hillis (William Vaughn, American columnist)