Re: Welcome

[Terry Grider <tgrider@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris.Chambers@v2music.com wrote:
> 
> OK let's get a general ball rolling:
> 
> What future for COBOL programmers on the AS400? We hear a lot about JAVA and 
>C++
> lately so are we a dying breed? How long can we expect to be in gainful
> employemnt - what about cross training to RPG - and if there are any 
>programmers
> who have both skills what are the merits of RPG over COBOL and vice-versa.
> 

To me, there seems to be an attitude about Cobol (and RPG for that matter), that
puts forth the idea that these languages are somehow static and Cobol is the
same as it was in the sixties and seventies.  The current versions of Cobol on
the 400 and PCs provide great capabilities for programmers.  I see wish list
type requests for features in RPG and usually, they have already existed in
Cobol for many years.  I'm not into JAVA yet, but I've seen comments that give
the impression you wouldn't want to print reports with it.  I know e-commerce
and the web is where all the excitement is, but if your business is like most I
know, managers still want their companies to be run by software like we're all
used to - fast, reliable and quick to get in to production.  Maybe I'm just
whistling past the graveyard, but I think there is room in the box for many
tools and you don't have to throw one out just cause you get a new one.

-- 
Terry Grider
tgrider@arkansas.net
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