Is COBOL still worth learning?

[GlockDoctor]

would it still be relevant to IT security and are there any good online resources for learning it?

[lucky]

@OGruf-Sepp-Dietrich seems to think its a good way to go.
https://bbs.dailystormer.com/t/programming/115044/29?u=lucky

[FRB]

Yes and no. Don't make it your one-trick pony. Learn another more modern language (Java, Python, Ruby, C#) and spearhead conversion efforts. Being able to both maintain and convert old COBOL programs would make you worth your weight in gold to certain companies.

I don't really feel it's that relevant to security, though. Most COBOL programs aren't publicly facing (they're used for internal billing and accounting). Input sanitation might be the most of your worries, security-wise.

[JohntheAutist]

Last I heard of COBOL being used was back in the mid 90's when my mother was working for a local furniture manufacturer. I didn't think it was in use anywhere, anymore.

[OGruf-Sepp-Dietrich]

As a Software engineer you gotta learn 2, maybe 3 at the most. The problem is, if you dont use a computer language, just like a spoken language, you loose it. So it does you no good to study 5 languages and then use only one because you forget the details of the other ones quickly. Today's languages are so complicated that they are a subject of whole class series in colleges. Take the latest C++ for example. Go to a C++ forum and read the questions and answers. It's often of the form "I wrote this piece of code and I expected it to do that but it does something else and I don't understand why". And I am not talking about bugs like overrun an array by 1 or using a nullptr here. It's complicated shit that has to do with the implicit functioning of language element that are defined in an ever increasing abstract way.
Take Ada which is comparable to C++ in complexity. Look at their language manual, it's a bummer. Ada programmer themselves have the joke that it is like reading a legal document.

Ok, rant aside, if you are a privatus learning a language there's only one way: Read it up and then have number of programs handy that you want to write yourself for your own enjoyment and do it. Nobody is going to buy your home made programs, and hardly anybody would download them for free from Github either, trust me. Write them for yourself! To play with them and to learn the language!

Here is a site with resources:
http://www.freebyte.com/programming/cobol/

And here is a link to a modern Cobol compiler that has a free trial version so that you can see that it's not all just GCC command line:
https://www.microfocus.com/products/visual-cobol/

Of course GCC is the granddaddy of all free compilers and it offers Cobol too I think (never used it myself) but there are lots of Compilers available.

The good thing is that COBOL is not as difficult to learn as C++ or any of the modern languages. It comes with it's own build in screen input/output system so making screenmasks for data input is a breeze.

I myself played around with it, never used it professionally because for me it's too late (I'm too old to switch career paths) but if I were 20 today I would definitely take this up as one of my two main languages

BTW you get used COBOL learning books on Amazon often for a $ or two

[CallOfTheBlood]

I remember that when the millennium bug was a big topic late '90s many old COBOL programmers came out of retirement to fix decades old systems that used only two digits for the year and that no-one else knew how to fix.

[muh1488]

if you live in the northeast it is good experience to have since many financial institutions still use it for their back end infrastructure. i wouldnt make a career out of it though.

IIRC, alot of ATM systems and whatnot use it because it is very reliable (its like plumbing..it just works)

read this, its VERY informative.
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-banks-still-using-COBOL

[ChoppersPG]

There's currently 250m+ lines of COBOL code still in operation today. I was thinking there is money in paleo-programming just yesterday. Updating COBOL to open source code.

COBOL is Object Oriented too. True story.

[Willem_Hacks]

There are still a lot of COBOL and RPG shops in the Midwest that are almost always looking for developers too.

[heidinger]

Wow. I thought it was a dead language. Learn something new every day at DS!

[cccb]

I would first google for what local programming firms are using, maybe go to upwork or freelancer or other freelancing website and check if there is any cobol work
in the end if you have your own idea about a software any programing language will work as long as the end product can run on modern computer

[alfpro]

Don't bother with cobol. Learn c#, html, css, tsql and javascript and then make tons of money doing websites for Microsoft shops.

[OGruf-Sepp-Dietrich]

LOL that's a good one, Goyle!

[Shaklestein]

You can check the (((linkedin))) job market, and you can see Cobol popping out. I've doubts about the "it security" part of it.