29
votes
How can there be so much "business logic" for a company that they cannot drop their old COBOL/mainframe code?
There are two huge factors at play. The question as asked deals with the complexity and risk of replacement. Let's set that aside for a moment. The first problem is simply one of value. Let's say that ...
19
votes
How can there be so much "business logic" for a company that they cannot drop their old COBOL/mainframe code?
One thing about COBOL in particular is that its built-in decimal data type is perfect for money calculations; PHP doesn't have that. Extrapolating a little, some of the old platforms have useful ...
15
votes
How can there be so much "business logic" for a company that they cannot drop their old COBOL/mainframe code?
(Koff, koff ...) Speaking as someone who used to teach a community-college course in COBOL ... there are actually key attributes about that particular language which have never been replicated since.
...
10
votes
How can there be so much "business logic" for a company that they cannot drop their old COBOL/mainframe code?
Based on what I have seen here are the main factors:
There is little to no documentation for these systems. There's no one to ask about requirements
COBOL is not a structured language. There's a ...
3
votes
Reading a large CSV file and then loading data to a DB
Another option: you read the data as you are receiving it. It may be less straightforward than simply reading the submitted follow at once, but it's is a usual approach when dealing with large files.
...
2
votes
How can there be so much "business logic" for a company that they cannot drop their old COBOL/mainframe code?
I refrain from the discussion whether a legacy system should not better be maintained or migrated.
Let us first see what migration means.
A similar scenario. A large software system in the script ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible