Re: COBOL ain't quite dead - yet !



"Richard" <riplin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:84113dcc-2936-401a-861d-712ac9f93533@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Oct 30, 11:07 pm, "Pete Dashwood"
<dashw...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Robert" <n...@xxxxxx> wrote in message

news:pe6ig4t8nhvj7tv9uakknckth23q08ru51@xxxxxxxxxx



On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:02:29 -0600, "James J. Gavan"
<jgavandeletet...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

+Micro Focus ACTION Program exceeds 50 U.S member Universities

ACTION-assisted courses ensure graduates are skilled in high-demand
COBOL

To see demand for Cobol in job ads, go to:

http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends

Enter "cobol" without quotes. Note the trend is declining, has fallen
about 30% in three
years.

Enter "cobol, c#" without quotes. This undocumented feature allows you
to
compare multiple
trends on one graph. Note that c# doubled in three years, is about four
times Cobol.

Enter "cobol, java, c#, pl/sql" without quotes. Note that java is about
double the other
three combined, and pl/sql is double Cobol.

Interesting figures, Robert.

Jobs are only an indicator of actual use though.

And Robert wasn't even measuring jobs, but was seeing 'empty seats'.
The ads were trying to find people to sit at desks that are currently
_not_ doing any programming.

The number of ads may just be an indication of the turn over rate of
the programmers. If COBOL programmers stay at the same position for
decades (because they are married, have kids, own houses and are
stable) while C# programmers are just out of school and keep
travelling, bumming out, OEs etc, then they need to be replaced -
hence ads.

Alternately it may indicate shortage of programmers in that language,
the more ads the less programmers that there are.

For example, there are
millions of people using C# and Java who don't have programming jobs, do
not
consider themselves professional programmers, and are maybe writing
applications for their friends and family... then ther are all the "one
man
bands" who won't appear in the job ads but are beavering away in the
eternal
hope of finding the "killer application".

Speaking of that, I had an unexpected visit from a lady I know and had
not
seen for some time. She had been in Cuba making music videos and was
passing
through, Tauranga where she was judging a Salsa dancing contest. She took
time to drop by and have lunch with me. We've been friends for years and
our
connection is through the Arts and music. Anyway, she saw my laptop
sitting
on the coffee table and asked me what I was writing. So I told her (both
in
the prose sense and in the programming sense). She got quite
enthusiastic...

"Could you write an application for a mobile device, like a cell phone or
iPod?".

I confirmed that I had the tools to do so and had been thinking about
this
for some time. Unfortunately, it is on a back burner while I complete the
things I'm doing currently.

I asked her what she had in mind.

"What about a downloadable guitar tuner, that you could have on your cell
phone?"

I realised this was a stroke of brilliance and wheels in the back of my
head
started spinning, processing what would be involved. Finally the little
ticket emerged which said "Viable, and a very interesting task".


I suspect that the speaker size and quality will have a significant
effect on whether it would be viable or not.

No, it is about frequency, not quality. The quality of the microphone is
important, but the speakers don't matter at all. In fact the device I use
has no speakers.



"Lizzie, that's a brilliant idea... I'd really like to write that." She
beamed.

"While I was in Havana the guys in the band were always misplacing their
guitar tuners... but they always had their cell phones to hand. Seems to
me
if the cell phones could act as tuners it would be really cool..."

I promised to look into it and told her if I did it, and made money from
it,
I'd see she got a fair cut... She looked at me and said: "I know you
would
Pete. But it isn't about the money. I just think it would be a useful
thing
to have..."

After she'd gone I was quite excited and found it difficult to continue
with
normal work...

I hopped onto GOOGLE and searched, hoping that I wouldn't find anything.
I
started thinking this could be the "killer application"....

The trouble with really good ideas is that if you have them, other people
probably do too... :-)

In seconds I found 15 different applications that could be loaded to a
cell
phone and would enable it to act as a guitar tuner. :-)

My other idea (letting a cell phone act as a wireless router to provide
Internet and WLAN connection for wireless enabled devices within the
range
of the phone) has also been done, quite recently, for Windows based
phones...

I use, and program, a Nokia 800 - its a computer not a phone. It can
connect to a Nokia phone (or similar) over Bluetooth to access the
internet (or use WiFi), has done for years.

Yes, I have a Sony cellphone which I connect to my computer via Bluetooth.
Mine is a T86. I bought it in the U.K.with a deal through BT, and was
surprised to find that it worked anywhere on Earth, including the USA.
Really old now, but state-of-the-art in it's day. As I don't use a mobile
very much, it serves me adequately. I connect using "Float" (Open Source)
software. It is an excellent package.

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."


.

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