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IBM Takes System/z To the Cloud With COBOL Update

Posted by timothy on from the spirits-of-the-ancient-ones dept.

hypnosec writes "IBM is taking its COBOL server platform to the next level by updating the mainframe platform in a bid to extend and enable its mainframes to host cloud based applications and services. The latest update is looking to add XMLS Server as well as Java 7 capabilities to the System/z COBOL platform and this update would extend the overall lifespan of COBOL by taking it up a notch and gearing it towards the cloud computing arena."

8 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    A stake and garlic? Anyone?

    1. Re:Anyone? by Freddybear · · Score: 5, Funny

      mmmm, steak and garlic. Oh, wait...

  2. Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Extended COBOL lifespan?!

    THANKS OBAMA! :(

    1. Re:Ugh by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Funny

      Never a death panel when you need one.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    2. Re:Ugh by ebno-10db · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The damned thing's immortal.

      And C is so much different? COBOL may be 54 years old, but C is not exactly a kid at 44. Sure we've had updated versions and C++, but so has COBOL (COBOL 2002 is OO). BTW, I've loved C since I first started using it, and I'm not sure I'd even recognize COBOL if it fell on me (not just a figure of speech if you're using big card decks), but just saying.

      Old programming languages never die (at least once entrenched), but this zombie effect wasn't appreciated when COBOL was first spec'd, because HLL's hadn't been around long enough. The fact that in 1959 COBOL was supposed to be just the first of three successive language definitions is instructive. From Wikipedia:

      it was decided to set up three committees: short, intermediate and long range (the last one was never actually formed). It was the Short Range Committee, chaired by Joseph Wegstein of the US National Bureau of Standards, that during the following months created a description of the first version of COBOL. The committee was formed to recommend a short range approach to a common business language. The committee was made up of members representing six computer manufacturers and three government agencies. ... The intermediate-range committee was formed but never became operational. In the end a sub-committee of the Short Range Committee developed the specifications of the COBOL language.

  3. And this is why people choose IBM by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IBM is more expensive, but you can be sure they have more commitment to backwards compatibility than anyone else. If you build on the right IBM technologies, you can be sure your code will be working 30 years from now. No need to rewrite ever few years with the latest fad.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:And this is why people choose IBM by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Agree, never my snarky post higher up in this discussion. The fact is COBOL is proven to scale and does the things its really good at; probably better than anything else. IBM mainframe MVS platforms are probably the best damn environment to run it in to with the longest stretch of forward and backward compatibility to maximize your software development investment. Generally the calls to kill off COBOL come from the ignorant.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  4. Re:COBOL code is not too different by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anytime you use VB your are using a form of COBOL.

    Anytime you use Visual Basic, you are incrementing the counter keeping track of exactly which Circle of Hell you'll eventually be deposited into.

    --
    #DeleteChrome