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RE: More predictions to mull over

• From: "Bret Foreman" <bret@s...>
• To: <xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:56:42 -0800

The picture looks the same in the COBOL world. There are about 1000 large
COBOL installations out there, each with an average of 5,000,000 lines of
(usually customized) code. Five billion lines of archaic spaghetti. Who in
their right mind would want to slog through the task of re-implementing all
that business logic...and who would pay for it?

It's a sobering thought to imagine that the business code we write today, no
matter how hacked up and ugly, will probably outlive us.

Bret

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter.Kirkham@g...
[mailto:Peter.Kirkham@g...]
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 8:25 AM
To: cbullard@h...; elharo@m...
Cc: xml-dev@l...
Subject: RE:  More predictions to mull over


When I worked there (2001-2005), about half the work of BAE Systems'
technical computing group's workload was sticking Swing/Jogl and web
application front ends on Fortran codebases, including a replacement for
the ISPF UI that was put around them 20 years ago to make them more user
friendly.

If I were to predict anything, it would be that in another 10 years the
same Fortran code gets skinned with the next big thing after Java.

You can't change the laws of physics, so why change the codes that
simulate it? (other than your technical programmers get bored with doing
Uis and leave to work for the competition, swearing never to touch Swing
again)


Pete
--
This is not my sig.


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• Follow-Ups:
  • RE: More predictions to mull over
    • From: "Lindsey, Jack" <Jack.Lindsey@c...>

• References:
  • RE: More predictions to mull over
    • From: <Peter.Kirkham@g...>