17 Jun
2026
17 Jun
'26
11:17 a.m.
On 17/06/2026 19:01, Paul Koning wrote:
That is the trouble with this list. Pure technical. You CAN run COBOL on
anything, but could you convince a 30 year old project manager to let you..
.. the domain must be the hardware, software and liveware...
On Jun 17, 2026, at 1:21 PM, David Wade via
cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 17/06/2026 15:56, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
No, the domain for COBOL is an application domain. It can be run on
any machine that has a compiler for it. It's true that some machines
(IBM/360, VAX) have instructions specifically designed to do the
decimal arithmetic that COBOL likes as single CISC operations, but the
lack of specific instructions like that has never been a compiler
limitation. No more than the lack of a hardware stack keeps you from
writing recursive applications, or prevents compilers from compiling
such programs.
On 6/17/2026 10:51 AM, Johan Helsingius via cctalk wrote:
Nothing, but we will disagree on defining its domain which I believe
must include hardware and software.
So if I am extending something written in COBOL on an IBM Mainframe
or Mid-range then yes, that Is the domain of COBOL.
For something thats going to run in the cloud with a web front end
unlikely.
On 17/06/2026 4:49 pm, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk
wrote:
> I came on the scene of a Honeywell to Univac-1100 migration 46 years
> ago. Mostly COBOL a little Fortran and a tiny bit of other silly
> stuff. Not only was there no thought of converting the COBOL to Ada
> at the time but the last time I checked they are still running some
> of the COBOL I wrote when I was there.
Sure, but would anyone starting a new software project choose
COBOL as the implementation language?
Other than the dearth of programmers, why not? What's wrong with the
language when the project is in its domain?
paul
Dave