This old programming language is considerably far more important than you could assume. Here is why
New investigation on the world scale of the COBOL programming language suggests that there are upwards of 800 billion strains of COBOL code getting employed by corporations and institutes around the globe, some 3 moments larger sized than formerly estimated.
A world study with 1,104 respondents from 49 international locations located that more than 9 in 10 businesses carry on to see COBOL as a strategic precedence. It also found that 83% of businesses believe that their COBOL-primarily based applications will see out a further 10 or a lot more many years.
COBOL – or Prevalent Organization Oriented Language – has been around because 1959 and is mainly credited for encouraging to create the laptop or computer computer software sector as we know it today. It dominated small business and government IT systems throughout the next many years, and substantial companies even now rely on it for working their mainframes and core business enterprise devices like payroll and accounts.
SEE: COBOL turns 60: Why it will outlive us all
The analyze, commissioned by IT company Micro Concentrate and carried out by exploration and evaluation firm Vanson Bourne, put the quantity of COBOL code in each day use at involving 775-850 billion lines. The calculations have been based mostly on figures supplied by developers, technologists and IT supervisors, who have been requested to ascertain and calculate the quantity of COBOL code in use at their businesses.
Most frequently represented in the study were builders (37%), adopted by supervisors/administrators (31%), IT architects/consultants (13%), VP and C-stage executives (8%), and program admins (5%).
Micro Concentration said the conclusions strengthened the importance of ongoing investment in COBOL as “the most trusted of main small business legacy techniques technologies,” particularly within just electronic transformation initiatives.
Nearly 50 % of respondents to the Micro Aim study reported they predicted the sum of COBOL in use at their businesses to increase for the duration of the up coming 12 months. In the same way, relatively than ripping out and changing old legacy devices, 64% of respondents explained they meant to modernize their COBOL programs – developing a demonstrable want for ongoing COBOL expense and modernization by “next-gen” builders.
SEE: Programming languages: Python dominates, but developers are including these new languages to stand out
“Whether or not this enhance in code is externally pushed or enthusiastic by new engineering or organization transformation initiatives, it is clear that the importance and quantity of COBOL in use continues to increase each 12 months,” reported Jimmy Mortimer, senior investigation consultant at Vanson Bourne.
Cloud was identified to be the main technological know-how driving application modernization. When requested about their company’s strategies for COBOL and the cloud in 2021, 43% of respondents stated their COBOL apps help cloud, or otherwise will help cloud by the stop of 2022. In addition, 41% reported new business jobs would need integration with existing COBOL programs.
