Re: [Q]: How many lines of Cobol running worldwide???

From: Thane Hubbell (thaneh_at_softwaresimple.com)
Date: 01/09/04

  • Next message: William M. Klein: "Re: multiple file reads and sorts"
    Date: 8 Jan 2004 20:49:26 -0800
    
    

    I see I have a multiplication error below.... but it's on the low
    side. Make it 6 TRILLION lines. Anyway - I don't think each COBOL
    programmer is solely responsible for a million lines of code, but it
    could be an interesting way to figure it out. Each could easily be
    responsible for 100,000 lines and if there are 6 million of us (I bet
    there's more) that's still hundreds of billions of lines of code.

    thaneh@softwaresimple.com (Thane Hubbell) wrote in message news:<bfdfc3e8.0401071951.43d32737@posting.google.com>...
    > I personally think their estimate is low. I'm PERSONALLY responsible
    > for maintaining systems totalling over a million lines. And I'm just
    > one guy. Figure there are 6 million COBOL programmers (so I've heard)
    > and that's a LOT of lines of code. (Like 600 Billion). And my
    > million lines is a rough guess - I bet some people have MORE and
    > there's a lot that just runs - is not maintained at all.
    >
    >
    > "Francis ANDRE" <francis.andre@easynet.fr> wrote in message news:<3ffc9c3d$0$15344$afc38c87@news.easynet.fr>...
    > > It does not matter so much to count included lines by copy....compare to the
    > > figures I got from the net....My question is more to understand if the
    > > Gartner's evaluation is more or less close to the "reality"...200 billions
    > > of Cobol lines!!!
    > >
    > > 75% of business data is processed in COBOL (Source: Gartner).
    > > There are 180 billion to 200 billion lines of COBOL in use worldwide
    > > (Gartner).
    > > 15% of new applications are written in COBOL (Gartner).
    > > Replacement costs for COBOL systems estimated at $25 per line are in the
    > > hundreds of billions of dollars (Tactical Strategy Group).
    > >
    > > FA
    > >
    > >
    > > "Thane Hubbell" <thaneh@softwaresimple.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
    > > bfdfc3e8.0401071224.423c4e0b@posting.google.com...
    > > > You can also get into the whole "what's a line of code". Pre or post
    > > > copybook expansion? Comments - do they count? Etc etc...
    > > >
    > > > A relatively small system I maintain has 140,000 lines of code
    > > > precopybook expansion and including comments.
    > > >
    > > >
    > > > Arnold Trembley <arnold.trembley@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
    > news:<0zNKb.2083$Ub6.63921@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
    > > > > LX-i wrote:
    > > > > > Francis ANDRE wrote:
    > > > > > (snip)
    > > > > >> In my understanding from the various sources, it is counting in
    > > > > >> billions of
    > > > > >> lines....which is quite large in term of evaluation....Does anybody
    > could
    > > > > >> give me more precise numbers, specially on past, present and future
    > > > > >> estimations??
    > > > > >
    > > > > >
    > > > > > Billions sounds right to me. Our one little Air Force aircraft
    > > > > > maintenance system has about 1.2M, and the supply system we interface
    > > > > > with has close to 5M.
    > > > > >
    > > > > >
    > > > >
    > > > > In 1996, as part of a Y2K project, we counted up how many COBOL
    > > > > programs and lines of code we had in production in order to estimate
    > > > > the scope of our Y2K work. It worked to something like 4,500
    > > > > production programs and about 7 million lines of code. This was a
    > > > > shop with maybe 100 to 150 actual programmers. Of course, the number
    > > > > is a moving target as new programs are written, existing programs are
    > > > > enhanced (usually resulting in a slight increase in LOC), and even
    > > > > occasionally deleting an old program.
    > > > >
    > > > > I can easily believe the number would be in the billions just for the
    > > > > USA, but there's no way to actually count it. We missed some programs
    > > > > that weren't stored in the proper libraries.


  • Next message: William M. Klein: "Re: multiple file reads and sorts"

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