HN Explorer

Ask YC: Does anyone know of any good Cobol tutorials?

9 points by cao825 ↗ HN
Okay, well I am graduating from college as a Computer Science major and we were taught the usual C++, Java, etc... but obviously we never got much into the ancient languages. However, the job I got is part of a team converting a companies' applications from COBOL to Java. So, I would like to learn as much COBOL as possible in 2 weeks. Does anyone know of any good tutorials out there that can teach such an outdated language? Note that I have googled for some and got some okay results, but nothing that looks particularly wonderful for learning business level COBOL.

Also, if anyone else has been in a similar situation, I would be very interested to hear about your experiences.

Thank you!

16 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 53.7 ms ] thread
cooldude127
did you also post this on reddit? ;-)
cao825
Indeed ;)

Just trying to get a good sample, I guess... I have no real idea of the hell on earth that I am walking into.

wanorris
One of the first pieces of great advice I got from my first real programming mentor was to never learn COBOL, or someone will make you write it. :-)

After you learn first hand why no good hacker wants to write COBOL, you might want to heed a related piece of advice: never admit you can write COBOL to anyone, for precisely the same reason. :-)

My condolences on your new job, but I hope you make good money and do something fun with it.

wheels
I actually did know COBOL once upon a time. There was an organization called "Business Professionals of America" that did a programming contest for kids in High School. I can proudly say that in 1996 I was the 2nd best COBOL programmer under 18 in Texas. ;-)

This is actually a very good book on COBOL, and the one that I used to learn at the time:

http://www.amazon.com/COBOL-80s-J-Wayne-Spence/dp/0314632905

The hardest thing is getting your head around COBOL's basic structure as it comes from a branch of the programming languages tree that died out long ago. Good luck. :-)

kirubakaran
Don't.

Sorry... Though your questions are different, I decided to tell you this anyway. I've done similar work in the past and I certainly don't recommend it. Please ask around (not the questions you are asking now) before going ahead with this.

rms
Though it's not going to be personally fulfilling in the same way as modern hacking, there's pretty good money to be made consulting on legacy systems.
babul
...but better money in transitioning them to more modern tech :)
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
cao825
With the job market the way it is and not having the best GPA in the world, I don't really have any other options right now. Also, I already signed a 6 month contract. So, as much as I would like to do some python coding for Google, I am kind of backed into a corner at the moment.
kirubakaran
All the best in your ventures. I just wanted to make sure it is a conscious choice.
kirubakaran
I should probably clarify that I have nothing against working on legacy systems and I agree that it is lucrative. I have something against COBOL though.
bigtoga
If you are going to take a job in which one of the requirements is migrating COBOL apps, your skills will not transfer to a new job; you're just going to waste your time learning a dead language. If you're just graduating, a huge lesson to learn is that you should take jobs that, all else being equal, allow you to advance your career. Ask yourself: "Is having COBOL on my resume going to help me over the next 30 years?"

Life is long, you are young, and the decisions you make today affect the rest of your life (perhaps more now than in five years).