GnuCOBOL in the press

[Arne Vajhøj]

https://thenewstack.io/20-years-in-the-making-gnucobol-is-ready-for-industry

[d***@panix.com]

Post by Arne Vajhøj
https://thenewstack.io/20-years-in-the-making-gnucobol-is-ready-for-industry

Well done, Mr Vahoej. It give me a vision of young men with notepads, the
hats on their heads with cards reading NYHEDSPRESSE asking questions.

In my own experience... every so often I'll get an email, offering a job
that requires 10-15 years of COBOL, 5-7 years of CICS, 5 years of IBM
mainframe system utilities (IDCAMS leads the list) and offering an hourly
rate I exceeded in 1988.

When I point out that inflation, alone, almost triples that rate in
today's dollars and they're looking for 10-15 years in a skill that folks
decided to stop learning twenty years ago (thanks, Mr Gunshannon!) the
response is, universally, 'yes, we know, but this is what the client is
offering.'

DD

[Bill Gunshannon]

Post by d***@panix.com
in a skill that
folks decided to stop learning twenty years ago (thanks, Mr Gunshannon!)

Let's keep it honest. Folks never said they did not want to learn it.
From my experience in over 30 years in academia the decision was to stop
teaching it whether folks wanted to learn it or not.

bill

[d***@panix.com]

Post by Bill Gunshannon

Post by d***@panix.com
in a skill that
folks decided to stop learning twenty years ago (thanks, Mr Gunshannon!)

Let's keep it honest. Folks never said they did not want to learn it.

That might be why I didn't phrase it as 'folks said they didn't want to
learn it'. My words were 'folks decided to stop learning (it)'.

Post by Bill Gunshannon
From my experience in over 30 years in academia the decision was to stop
teaching it whether folks wanted to learn it or not.

I used to have a link around, somewhere, that lead to freeware which
allowed IBM MVS mainframe emulation on a PC, including FORTRAN and COBOL
compilers. Everything was - and still is - out there that'll allow
someone who decides to learn it the learning.

Folks don't want it. There may be many reasons for this but the fact
remains that the desire isn't there.

DD

[Rich Alderson]

I used to have a link around, somewhere, that lead to freeware which allowed
IBM MVS mainframe emulation on a PC, including FORTRAN and COBOL compilers.
Everything was - and still is - out there that'll allow someone who decides
to learn it the learning.

There is still a very active community of developers for the Hercules emulator,
and very active discussions on groups.io mailing lists. Hercules itself can be
downloaded from Github, and there are pointers to tons of documentation in the
README.md file.

Just sayin'.

[Robert Doerfler]

Post by d***@panix.com

Post by Bill Gunshannon

Post by d***@panix.com
in a skill that
folks decided to stop learning twenty years ago (thanks, Mr Gunshannon!)

Let's keep it honest. Folks never said they did not want to learn it.

That might be why I didn't phrase it as 'folks said they didn't want to
learn it'. My words were 'folks decided to stop learning (it)'.

When I talk about myself, I often mention that I wanted to learn COBOL.
From time to time, I got distracted by other things, but fortunately,
there are now countless opportunities to learn COBOL, and I assume others
are also interested.

For example, I can recommend the following online course with GnuCOBOL,
which would be a good start:

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/topics/cobol

(But yes, this course would require a LinkedIn account.)

When it comes to mainframes, IBM offers countless opportunities,
including accounts and tests on mainframes.

PS: I recently got some Professional Certificates like “IBM Mainframe
Developer” or “z/OS Mainframe Practitioner Specialization.” There were
others doing the same at the same time. Honestly, I don’t know what
those might be worth, but dealing with z/OS, ISPF, REXX, CICS
and COBOL on an IBM Z Mainframe was great fun though. ;)

RD

[d***@panix.com]

Post by Robert Doerfler

Post by d***@panix.com

Post by Bill Gunshannon

Post by d***@panix.com
in a skill that
folks decided to stop learning twenty years ago (thanks, Mr Gunshannon!)

Let's keep it honest. Folks never said they did not want to learn it.

That might be why I didn't phrase it as 'folks said they didn't want to
learn it'. My words were 'folks decided to stop learning (it)'.

When I talk about myself, I often mention that I wanted to learn COBOL.

When I talk about myself I am taller, smarter, better-looking, more
sharply-dressed, a delight to ladies who recognise this, by instinct,
across crowded rooms or great, open, empty spaces.

One of us might have something to learn from the other.

[snip]

Post by Robert Doerfler
Honestly, I don???t know what
those might be worth, but dealing with z/OS, ISPF, REXX, CICS
and COBOL on an IBM Z Mainframe was great fun though. ;)

Here we are in agreement; I found doing such things to be much more
enjoyable than working as a delivery-clerk or stirring vats in a factory.

DD

[Amessyroom]

Re: GnuCOBOL in the press

Post by Robert Doerfler
When I talk about myself, I often mention that I wanted to learn COBOL.
From time to time, I got distracted by other things, but fortunately,
there are now countless opportunities to learn COBOL, and I assume others
are also interested.

I had the opportunity to learn COBOL in high school in the late 80's. When
I went to college, I though I would take it as an easy course and ended up
changing it to Pass/Fail. I just lost interest.

Wish I would not have done that.

Post by Robert Doerfler
For example, I can recommend the following online course with GnuCOBOL,
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/topics/cobol

I'll have to find the class, and see if I can get GnuCOBOL to work on my VPS or
RaspPi, and see if I can write some COBOL programs.

Post by Robert Doerfler
When it comes to mainframes, IBM offers countless opportunities,
including accounts and tests on mainframes.

May have to look into these opportunities; I've not taken any IBM training.

Post by Robert Doerfler
PS: I recently got some Professional Certificates like "IBM Mainframe
Developer" or "z/OS Mainframe Practitioner Specialization." There were
others doing the same at the same time. Honestly, I don't know what
those might be worth, but dealing with z/OS, ISPF, REXX, CICS
and COBOL on an IBM Z Mainframe was great fun though. ;)

I did REXX back when I co-oped with BNR (Bell Northern Research),
the research arm of Nortel Telecom later known as Nortel.

That was a cool language. I couldn't probably write a hello world program
with it now; that was many years ago. Should look and see if I could
find REXX class, and interpreter for linux. LOL

[David Meyer]

Post by Amessyroom
I did REXX back when I co-oped with BNR (Bell Northern Research),
the research arm of Nortel Telecom later known as Nortel.
That was a cool language. I couldn't probably write a hello world program
with it now; that was many years ago. Should look and see if I could
find REXX class, and interpreter for linux. LOL

REXX is cool, indeed!

/**/
SAY 'HELLO, REXX!'

That's all.

[Arne Vajhøj]

Post by Amessyroom
I did REXX back when I co-oped with BNR (Bell Northern Research),
the research arm of Nortel Telecom later known as Nortel.
That was a cool language. I couldn't probably write a hello world program
with it now; that was many years ago. Should look and see if I could
find REXX class, and interpreter for linux. LOL

https://regina-rexx.sourceforge.io/
https://github.com/0branch/regina

Arne

[Vincent Coen]

Hello Amessyroom!

Thursday July 11 2024 10:29, Amessyroom wrote to Robert Doerfler:

..

Post by Amessyroom
I'll have to find the class, and see if I can get GnuCOBOL to work on
my VPS or RaspPi, and see if I can write some COBOL programs.

Works well on a Pi 3B+ with a 1Tb HDD - needed to install a Cobol
application on it as a self contained system offloaded from the main system
for some months with the idea of reducing overall power consumption.
Also set up a back up for it on a brand new Pi4B with 8Gb Ram and a SSD
but as it was not really needed dropped that idea.

I set up on the Pi3 Hercules running MVS, ciks, Cobol etc., as well.

Note the use of a SSD or/and a SSD.
I do not use a SD on anything.

Post by Amessyroom

Post by Robert Doerfler
When it comes to mainframes, IBM offers countless opportunities,
including accounts and tests on mainframes.

May have to look into these opportunities; I've not taken any IBM
training.

Post by Robert Doerfler
PS: I recently got some Professional Certificates like "IBM
Mainframe Developer" or "z/OS Mainframe Practitioner
Specialization." There were others doing the same at the same time.
Honestly, I don't know what those might be worth, but dealing with
z/OS, ISPF, REXX, CICS and COBOL on an IBM Z Mainframe was great
fun though. ;)

I did REXX back when I co-oped with BNR (Bell Northern Research),
the research arm of Nortel Telecom later known as Nortel.
That was a cool language. I couldn't probably write a hello world
program with it now; that was many years ago. Should look and see if I
could find REXX class, and interpreter for linux. LOL

Vincent

[Joe]

Post by Vincent Coen
Hello Amessyroom!
..

Post by Amessyroom
I'll have to find the class, and see if I can get GnuCOBOL to work on
my VPS or RaspPi, and see if I can write some COBOL programs.

Works well on a Pi 3B+ with a 1Tb HDD - needed to install a Cobol
application on it as a self contained system offloaded from the main system
for some months with the idea of reducing overall power consumption.
Also set up a back up for it on a brand new Pi4B with 8Gb Ram and a SSD
but as it was not really needed dropped that idea.
I set up on the Pi3 Hercules running MVS, ciks, Cobol etc., as well.
Note the use of a SSD or/and a SSD.
I do not use a SD on anything.

Post by Amessyroom

Post by Robert Doerfler
When it comes to mainframes, IBM offers countless opportunities,
including accounts and tests on mainframes.

May have to look into these opportunities; I've not taken any IBM
training.

Post by Robert Doerfler
PS: I recently got some Professional Certificates like "IBM
Mainframe Developer" or "z/OS Mainframe Practitioner
Specialization." There were others doing the same at the same time.
Honestly, I don't know what those might be worth, but dealing with
z/OS, ISPF, REXX, CICS and COBOL on an IBM Z Mainframe was great
fun though. ;)

I did REXX back when I co-oped with BNR (Bell Northern Research),
the research arm of Nortel Telecom later known as Nortel.
That was a cool language. I couldn't probably write a hello world
program with it now; that was many years ago. Should look and see if I
could find REXX class, and interpreter for linux. LOL

Vincent

GNUCobol on a Pi vs mainframe does not have comparable performance, think factor "millions". But it does work..... Biggest problem
for me at the time was lack of a decent SQL preprocessor for mySQL/MariaDB. MQTT did work reasonably well.

Since then I've moved to Python, better support for all types of infra & easy to learn for a Cobol person.

[Vincent Coen]

Hello Joe!

Post by Joe

Post by Vincent Coen
Vincent

GNUCobol on a Pi vs mainframe does not have comparable performance,
think factor "millions". But it does work..... Biggest problem for
me at the time was lack of a decent SQL preprocessor for
mySQL/MariaDB. MQTT did work reasonably well.
Since then I've moved to Python, better support for all types of infra
& easy to learn for a Cobol person.

I use the JC pre compiler but other will also work IF the are coded in
Cobol or C. JC was compiled using the Pi and I built my ACAS system that
used it for all file processing transferred to Mysql / mariadb.


For ODBC pre-compiler the is at least one but I have never used as
documentation is nil. IT is available on the GC website under contribs.



Vincent