Re: (not entirely...) OT: OPINION... chicken entrails, runic stones, and crystal balls... WAS CoBOL moved to OO

From: Howard Brazee (howard_at_brazee.net)
Date: 01/02/04 

Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 16:06:08 GMT

On 1-Jan-2004, "Peter E.C. Dashwood" <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote:

> 1. SOME businesses will continue to use COBOL (I believe it will be mainly
> for Batch processing.). I also believe that there will not ALWAYS be a need
> for Batch processing. (I know it's hard to believe in the current
> "state-of-the-art"). As online transaction rates increase and online systems
> become ever more efficient, there is no conceivable need for overnight
> updates. Distributed systems through Client Server and the Corporate
> Intranet will remove the need for Report runs off a central mainframe.

Is that what batch processing is used for?

I guess when we run a batch program to write bills, it does update the database
to indicated that a customer has been billed, but I wouldn't categorize this as
"overnight update".

Will payroll be replaced by individual on-line transactions?