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In the wake of some belt-tightening, what's next for Microsoft's search and advertising platforms? I suppose they could DuckDuckGo for an answer
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It’s only a matter of time until the Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) will regain its spotlight as one of the most in-demand skills of future generations of software engineers. "That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die."
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More code has been written with COBOL than all other languages put together. It is used by banks, financial institutes, government agencies etc etc. The cost of re-developing these application using more modern technologies is far too great. These legacy systems will simply keep going forever, and hence the demand for those skills will do the same.
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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<citation needed>.
I'm sorry, I just don't believe that without some realistic citation.
I'd be willing to bet £100 against that - I suspect more code has been written in C alone than COBOL, let alone "all other languages put together".
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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COBOL is most definitely the most ubiquitous programming language out there, and I'l take your £100 and raise you a further £100.
It's been in existence since 1959, compared to 1972 for C.
There are several articles that attest to its prevalence, here are just a few. There are plenty more if you care to look.
http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5114/did-cobol-have-250-billion-lines-of-code-and-1-million-programmers-as-late-as-2[^]
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/apr/09/cobol-internet-programming[^]
http://blog.codinghorror.com/cobol-everywhere-and-nowhere/[^]
Quote: The statistics that surround COBOL attest to its huge influence upon the business world. There are over 220 billion lines of COBOL in existence, a figure which equates to around 80% of the world's actively used code. There are estimated to be over a million COBOL programmers in the world today. Most impressive perhaps, is that 200 times as many COBOL transactions take place each day than Google searches - a figure which puts the influence of Web 2.0 into stark perspective.
Every year, COBOL systems are responsible for transporting up to 72,000 shipping containers, caring for 60 million patients, processing 80% of point-of-sales transactions and connecting 500 million mobile phone users. COBOL manages our train timetables, air traffic control systems, holiday bookings and supermarket stock controls. And the list could go on.
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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I'm still more than suspicious - the measure of "220 billion line of COBOL in existence" - is all of that still active? Of course there are a large number of extremely important systems running COBOL, I wouldn't dispute that. But you stated "More code has been written with COBOL than all other languages put together" and that's what I find hard to believe. Because that would include every single O/S, piece of embedded software, projects that people like me never got round to releasing, and millions of other projects. I simply do not believe it.
Of course, that would also be impossible to prove, I also doubt the "80% of the world's actively used code" - how the hell do you measure that?
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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I have read that quote about Quote: More code has been written with COBOL than all other languages put together
several times and from completely different sources. I'm sure Google will help with that.
It's fairly obvious that the quote relates to production code and not code lurking on a server in a basement that hasn't been released..
I'm not here to try to persuade you (or anyone else) about the ubiquity of COBOL. It is without any shadow of a doubt, the most widely used language in the world, no other even comes close. If you don't believe me or any of the articles, then feel free to prove me wrong.
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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Well, I've searched extensively, and the only credible source I can find for that statement is from Gartner Group, in 1997. Even then it is qualified to refer to Business code.
COMPUTER WORLD had one beginning "I would say that more than half"..., but that isn't exactly credible, and dated from 1985.
I'll admit COBOL code is often freakishly long-lived, but I think its no longer as ubiquitous as it once was. It doesn't even make it the top 50 of most programming language popularity indexes (TiOBE, Stack Overflow, etc.). Some of that may due to the methodology of the measures.
Large existing systems keep using COBOL, simply because its too much effort to port it - and its also most modern languages have somewhat different design goals.
Of course, there's also the contributing factor that it would frequently take 50 lines of COBOL to express what could be 10 lines in most languages.
Even excluding projects that never made it to production, I still believe that C/C++ have probably passed COBOL a while ago.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Kent Sharkey wrote: “THAT IS NOT DEAD WHICH CAN ETERNAL LIE, AND WITH STRANGE AEONS EVEN DEATH MAY DIE."
FTFY
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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PICky PICky... 
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Project Westminster makes it simple for you to bring existing Hosted Web Apps to Windows 10. "England swings like a pendulum do "
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This morning, several news outlets gave voice to an extraordinary claim: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where the spacecraft Philae awoke last month, could be home to alien life. tl;dr: Nope. Nada. NBL. Uh uh.
So you know there's a conspiracy!
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are the result of microbial organisms
Oh BFD
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Developer demand for Ruby and Rails remain high, but the specific ways both language and framework shine (or don't) are crucial to know. "Some may say Ruby is a bad rip-off of Lisp or Smalltalk, and I admit that."
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One FCC commissioner appears to think that we don't, but perhaps he doesn't understand the question. Maslow says no, I say yes.
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Tomayto, tomahto, potayto, potahto.
No, we don't actually "need" the internet. But it's damn nice to have. Makes a lot of life much easier. Makes it easier for the criminals, too, I suppose.
#SupportHeForShe If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
Only 2 things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
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Basically proliferates bad ideas through the entire world. Nope. Don't need it. I never use it.
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No - but we'd need more post-it notes (Twitter), fridge magnets (Facebook) and 'erm cards stuck in public phone booths (Craigslist)
Also I'd need to get my own my own cat to watch...
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Without reading the article, the answer is simple: No, we don't need it. Just like cars, trains, planes, phones, washing machines, dishwasher, hairdryer, power plants, etc. There was a time when all of this stuff didn't exist and humans were still able to manage their lives in some way, as far back as the Stone Age and earlier. All this stuff just makes our lives easier (unforunately, it doesn't come for free, so we eventually have to deal with a the side-effects at some point.) The crux is: As soon as some technical advancement is there, we lose the ability to live without it. You don't need to know how to make a fire anymore, you got matches or a lighter.
The more interesting question should be: Are we depending too much on the Internet.
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FIorian Schneidereit wrote: The more interesting question should be: Are we depending too much on the Internet.
I asked Siri - she said no. (Although I did hear a bit of a sinister chuckle...)
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Maybe I'm gonna ask Cortana what she thinks about it... but I guess she will keep quiet and only come up with lame web search results. 
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Quote: You don't need to know how to make a fire anymore, you got matches or a lighter.
You don't need good grammar anymore; you have a spelling or grammar checker.
LOL #GrammarPolice
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Brian C Hart wrote:
You don't need good grammar anymore; you have a spelling or grammar checker.
Not exactly, most of the time I rely on try and error, and hope people understand what I mean. As a non-native English speaker, the foreigner excuse is on my side anyways. 
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