Re: Despair
What the version of COBOL originally used has to do with it is entirely beyond me. COBOL programs compiled 40 years ago on IBM mainframes will still run today. Assuming the source code hasn't been lost (this is actually a genuine problem) it can be recompiled with the current compiler, usually with no changes.
Also, programmers that are well-versed in a particular language can usually adapt to older versions on the same class of systems with little effort. Maybe they'll have the occasional "Oh wait, that won't work here." moments just like you'd have with C, Perl or Python when working on an older code base. And the incantations to compile and link the code will not be substantially different from the previous build on that system, if at all.
I've written Pascal on a DEC10, a VAX and, using Borland TP, on PCs. With the latter you get all kinds of options for screen manipulation that you don't readily have on a VT100, but no-frills line-based I/O needed little conversion, and I didn't need to touch the main processing routines when I moved stuff from the VAX to a PC.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
