G'day all. I asked:
Actually, a more interesting problem is what you'd replace COBOL with, and how you'd go about it. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a modern language that you could write or rewrite new parts of your COBOL application in, and it all worked seamlessly with what you already had?
Henning Thielemann replied:
Do you think of something like ABAP? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABAP
I'd like to respond with some combination of: * I never try to think of ABAP. * No, I said "modern language". But the fact is, I know nothing about ABAP apart from having heard of it once. Not that this has ever stopped us having strong opinions, right? To be a true COBOL replacement, I think that one very important feature is that it is link-compatible with existing COBOL code. You're never going to be able to replace a 6MLOC COBOL monster in any manner other than piecemeal. Cheers, Andrew Bromage