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Ask HN: Any active COBOL devs here? What are you working on?

234 points _false | 13 comments | 18 Jul 25 13:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.683s | source | bottom

COBOL legacy systems in finance and government are somewhat of a meme. However, I've never actually met a single person who's day job is to maintain one. I'd be curious to learn what systems are you working on?
1. actionfromafar ◴[18 Jul 25 13:27 UTC] No.44604424[source]▶
Maybe the COBOL devs aren’t here.
replies(3): >>44604515 #>>44604748 #>>44604749 #
2. nine_k ◴[18 Jul 25 13:37 UTC] No.44604515[source]▶
HN is a place where everyone is, so it's reasonable to assume that some Cobol devs may also lurk here.
replies(3): >>44604544 #>>44604576 #>>44606440 #
3. actionfromafar ◴[18 Jul 25 13:40 UTC] No.44604544[source]▶
Everyone except most developers I know.
replies(1): >>44604636 #
4. gardnr ◴[18 Jul 25 13:44 UTC] No.44604576[source]▶
I am here; so I can attest to HN being a place for everyone.
replies(1): >>44604672 #
5. gardnr ◴[18 Jul 25 13:50 UTC] No.44604636{3}[source]▶
This is oddly true in my experience. I ask people where they get their information from and the channels are generally a lot more sparse than topics posted to HN.

If I were to venture to guess: I'd say "most developers" seek work-life balance and aren't interested in reading long-form articles on how to do X or Y when they are off the clock.

6. justinator ◴[18 Jul 25 13:54 UTC] No.44604672{3}[source]▶
Perl devs too. There are literally dozens of us!
replies(1): >>44605495 #
7. bluedino ◴[18 Jul 25 14:02 UTC] No.44604748[source]▶
https://prog21.dadgum.com/143.html
8. zoom6628 ◴[18 Jul 25 14:03 UTC] No.44604749[source]▶
Ex COBOL dev here. Started at NCR on COBOL for minis and mainframes. Then built stuff on Wang VS COBOL for ERP systems until 93. Quite a few other languages since then but been a Product Manager for past 20+ years.
replies(1): >>44604901 #
9. jmclnx ◴[18 Jul 25 14:18 UTC] No.44604901[source]▶
Same here, I worked on Wang VS COBOL too. IMO, it had the best TUI Screen generation Tools I have ever seen.

Towards the end, I worked on a project to port Wang VS OS and its COBOL to AIX. I was tasked finding issues with COBOL Programs we had on the VS. It was a good environment, but Wang went CPT 11 before it was ready :) It was rather close to being complete.

replies(1): >>44613416 #
10. gardnr ◴[18 Jul 25 15:07 UTC] No.44605495{4}[source]▶
> There are literally dozens of us!

I am happy that you are here but there is no need for hyperbole.

11. compiler-guy ◴[18 Jul 25 16:14 UTC] No.44606440[source]▶
Shout out to all the MUMPS programmers out there reading HN. May your code always be healthy.
replies(1): >>44613249 #
12. p_l ◴[19 Jul 25 07:06 UTC] No.44613249{3}[source]▶
There's more MUMPS programming going around than many people believe, especially in financials...

Including new development.

13. glaucon ◴[19 Jul 25 07:43 UTC] No.44613416{3}[source]▶
I worked on Wang VS COBOL too, great environment. Also worked on Wang PACE, their 4GL/RDBMS, the people who developed that stuff did a great job.