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Groups > comp.os.linux.misc > #91432

Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers?

From Rich <rich@example.invalid>
Newsgroups comp.os.linux.misc
Subject Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers?
Date 2026-09-14 17:18 +0000
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <1189aa2$1nq2r$3@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References (1 earlier) <18d1ffe2a110b2ac$14913$961095$802601b3@news.usenetexpress.com> <vezmS.24203$GdUb.10990@fx18.iad> <117j2fv$24qgq$3@dont-email.me> <LOecnTlgcdqB7wP3nZ2dnZfqn_GdnZ2d@giganews.com> <117m5qn$35vc1$5@dont-email.me>

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The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 07/09/2026 09:14, c186282 wrote:
>> On 9/6/26 02:50, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
>>> On Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:56:59 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>>
>>>> ... mention COBOL ... and their faces would turn green.
>>>
>>> Another of the ironies of COBOL was that it was supposedly focused 
>>> very strictly on “business” needs.  So you had very limited 
>>> string-processing capabilities or any dynamic storage allocation, 
>>> because supposedly “business” applications didn’t require that.  
>>> Instead, the language put a lot of effort into dealing with all 
>>> kinds of complexities involving ISAM files.
>>>
> Another clueless dimwit who has no idea of the environment in which 
> the language was developed.

Note the source you quoted....  Our local Troll.  So of course the 
paragraph has a "cluelessness" aspect intentionally woven in to trigger 
some "troll results".

>>> Then relational databases became popular among “business” users.  
>>> And the best way to interface to them involved dynamically 
>>> generating SQL query strings.  Which COBOL wasn’t very good at -- 
>>> and still isn’t, as far as I can tell.  Various vendor-proprietary 
>>> extensions dealt with this by letting a program embed 
>>> statically-defined query templates, but that sacrificed 
>>> portability.  And it still didn’t deal very well with more ad-hoc 
>>> database access -- which “business” users found was a very useful 
>>> thing to do.
>>>
>>> And nowadays, who has even heard of ISAM files? Can you even find them
>>> in “business” environments any more?
>> 
> More cluelessness

See above.

>>    COBOL *would* get it done - by SOME means.
>> 
>>    However it wasn't always very EASY or LOGICAL means.
>> 
>>    The original goal of an "English-ish" lang that would
>>    self-document - BIG FAIL.
>> 
> More clulessness. You dint write COBOL and document it later.
> You wrote a business analsyis case, designed your data structures and 
> wrote in plain english how these would be affected bu any cobol module.
> 
> The actual code was done by monkeys slavishily following the spec.

Just like Java programming for "enterprise" is done today.  Only now 
they call slice and dice "the spec" into numerous "User Stories" that 
are but a tiny slice of the whole spec.  So the code monkeys never even 
get a view of the big picture of what they are being asked to code 
towards.

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OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-04 02:20 +0000
  Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-04 03:17 +0000
    Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-04 12:56 +0000
      Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-04 14:44 +0100
        Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-04 18:48 +0000
      Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-04 16:00 +0000
        Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-04 23:19 +0000
          Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-05 00:59 +0000
          Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-05 01:26 +0000
            Intel and IEEE 754 (was: Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers?) Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-05 03:06 +0100
              Re: Intel and IEEE 754 (was: Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers?) Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-05 02:27 +0000
            Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-09-05 03:25 -0400
              Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-05 17:56 +0000
          Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-09-05 21:30 +0000
            Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-05 22:38 +0000
              Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-09-06 01:59 +0000
              Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-06 03:08 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-06 03:51 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-09-06 06:43 +0000
            Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-06 02:43 +0000
      Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-04 18:37 +0000
        Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-09-04 21:20 -0400
          Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Leroy H <lh@somewhere.net> - 2026-09-05 01:40 +0000
          Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-05 03:46 +0000
            Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-09-05 03:36 -0400
              Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-05 18:09 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-05 19:23 +0100
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-06 02:49 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-06 03:51 +0000
      Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-09-04 22:36 +0000
      Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-09-06 06:50 +0000
        Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-09-07 04:14 -0400
          Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-07 12:05 +0100
            Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2026-09-07 09:17 -0400
              Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-07 15:02 +0100
              Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-07 19:16 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-07 22:26 +0100
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-08 04:18 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-08 04:38 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-09-08 05:43 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-09-09 04:25 +0000
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-09 09:35 +0100
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2026-09-07 18:58 -0400
                Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-08 04:47 +0000
            Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2026-09-14 17:18 +0000
  Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-05 02:50 +0100
    Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-05 08:37 +0100
      Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-09-05 10:20 +0100
        Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-09-05 18:31 +0000

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