←back to thread

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

234 points _false | 1 comments | 18 Jul 25 13:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | source

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?
Show context
zeeframe ◴[18 Jul 25 13:45 UTC] No.44604586[source]▶
I’m not a COBOL dev but I work with mainframes(z/OS). Most COBOL applications I’ve seen have been banking and insurance related with few exceptions. Most of them either run as a series of batch jobs or via transaction managers like IMS and CICS. Backends are usually sequential files(we call them datasets),DB2,VSAM(Virtual Storage Access Method) or DL/1(hierarchical DB that’s part of IMS). Quite a few places I’ve seen have run IBM MQ as well.

If changes are made to these systems it’s often due to changes in regulation or driven by changes in the business(new financial products being offered etc.

Off-topic: I’ve seen quite a few mainframe related posts on HN fly by over the years. I’ve been meaning to create an account and participate but I’ve only gotten around to it just now.

replies(6): >>44604800 #>>44605238 #>>44605362 #>>44607492 #>>44609570 #>>44615253 #
znpy ◴[18 Jul 25 14:57 UTC] No.44605362[source]▶
Dumb question: mainframes and z/OS look interesting, how does one get started with learning about those systems and those environments ?
replies(4): >>44605726 #>>44605816 #>>44605955 #>>44606269 #
1. schlauerfox ◴[18 Jul 25 15:30 UTC] No.44605816[source]▶
I'm not a mainframe programmer, but coming from x86 land I was very curious. I really learned a lot from the IBM Coursera "Intro to Mainframe" since none of my experience really applied it was tough. It had a real shell account to practice with though.

https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/ibm-z-mai...

Also the MOSHIX mainframe YouTube channel has a lot of info, and helped me setup HERCULES emulator for my own little mainframe experience.

http://www.hercules-390.org/