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From: John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
Subject: Re: Invention of language
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References: <563rcc$2nc@scream.auckland.ac.nz> <56dmgc$sm1@fridge-nf0.shore.net> <badger.847930634@phylo.life.uiuc.edu> <56f5k4$c1c@fridge-nf0.shore.net>
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Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 18:14:31 GMT
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Steve Whittet wrote:

> In article <badger.847930634@phylo.life.uiuc.edu>,
> badger@phylo.life.uiuc.edu" says...

> >I'd say the lifespan of a computer language is essentially
> >infinite. Both Fortran and Cobol are still commonly used today...
> 
> That dates you a bit. I studied Fortran for engineering and I
> know some engineers who still use it. I actually learned to
> write algorithms for GKS (Graphic Kernal Systems) using Fortran
> on a VAX/VMS system. I also studied Cobol which used to be used
> to do punch cards for big institutional databases.

> If you know anyone who is still writing in either of those
> languages the chances are they work for a computer museum.

Not thirty feet from where I sit (which is a major American
bank, NOT a museum) there are about 45 programmers who use
nothing but Cobol.  In the bank as a whole there are probably
more like 400.

> I am not a computer programmer so I don't know for sure,

That's for sure.

-- 
John Cowan						cowan@ccil.org
			e'osai ko sarji la lojban
