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Watsonx: IBM's code assistant for turning COBOL into Java

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127 points Anon84 | 4 comments | 03 Dec 23 16:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.47s | source
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elteto ◴[03 Dec 23 17:27 UTC] No.38508815[source]▶
These systems have not been running untouched for 60 years. Regulatory environments change almost constantly and the code has to be updated accordingly. I don’t personally know anyone writing COBOL but I’m certain there’s plenty of people doing it. And to change the code you have to know it. So there’s really no 60 year old code that no one knows anymore.

Also, at this point, if you are running on a dead platform and language and you know it, and haven’t addressed it, then it’s on you. I’ve been seeing these COBOL articles since the 2000s I believe.

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pixl97 ◴[03 Dec 23 18:00 UTC] No.38509163[source]▶
I've seen some currently used COBOL that had it's like change date in the early 80s in the finance industry, so there some rather ancient programs out there. Of course this also means that these files have met the needs of the industry that long and bug free so why go messing with things that move 100s of millions/billions of dollars per day.
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1. uxp8u61q ◴[03 Dec 23 21:25 UTC] No.38510919[source]▶
Even if it's not handling billions of dollars a day... Why fix what isn't broken? Software isn't an end into itself, it's a tool to solve a business need. If the business need is met, there's not anything to fix.
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2. rafaelmn ◴[03 Dec 23 21:35 UTC] No.38510995[source]▶
Because you lose the ability to fix/update it if you don't exercise it ? Depends on how much you value the ability to change the software.
3. kstrauser ◴[03 Dec 23 21:58 UTC] No.38511161[source]▶
One reason is that it’s harder to execute by the year. Mainframes might be fast for some things, but they won’t/can’t scale as well as a gazillion VPS instances.

I bet there are plenty of shops that have software they’d love to run on a cheap cloud server, so that they could retire their hyperexpensive big iron.

4. wredue ◴[03 Dec 23 23:52 UTC] No.38512051[source]▶
Because all the data and processing being on the mainframe poses loads of problems which are causing competitive disadvantages today.

As a shining example of the grief: 8 letter passwords.