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Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#61

Post by drakonka »

I am using PHP for my hobby project. It's "old" but obviously not abandoned and I think it's becoming a bit less ridiculed, but you still see the regular "Ew why PHP"-type remarks and other jokes about the language.

I don't use it because of familiarity or comfort (I'm actually quite uncomfortable with it because I know it's easy to fall into traps of horrible practices). The simple answer is that as a kid I loved PHP browser game and envisioned the project I wanted to make for 10 years as a PHP project. I've experimented with using different languages for it, but go back to PHP simply for the sake of nostalgia. I realize this is normally a horrible reason to pick a certain language for a project, but considering it's a pretty quirky long term passion project with no goal of monetization (or even full completion), I think it's reason enough.

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#62

Post by ctdonath »

Gaessaki wrote: post #44
ctdonath wrote: post #11

There's lots of job openings out there for COBOL coders. Nobody wants to learn it, and those who know it are dying off.

As a young developer, do you know where and how I could go about getting into the COBOL industry? All the job listings seem to require a decade's worth of experience and lists expertise requirements in technologies that are proprietary and only available on a mainframe. COBOL on its own is not very hard to pick up, but I'm lost as to how to learn about the ancillary technologies. I'm not sure it's so much that nobody…

Contact the companies looking for COBOL coders. They're desperate, and will tell you exactly what you need to learn and probably pay for any training you need.

Sure they'd prefer someone with a decade or five of experience, but seriously: COBOL coders are literally dying off at this point. 17 years ago was the last great hurrah for hiring & training COBOL developers, averting the "Y2K crisis" before calendars ticked over to the year 2000; we've got kids born after that who are entering the software workforce now. About 5 years ago I had someone speak in my C++ class begging students to consider a career in "mainframe" technologies; there was virtually no interest shown, and methinks most of the students didn't even know what he was talking about.

But...the need remains. Those systems are so large & profitable they're not going anywhere, and employers must be quite willing to take on new coders willing to learn, directing & funding their education as needed. If you're interested, contact a hiring company directly and ask - even if you have 0 of 10 years required experience.

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#63

Post by jhallenworld »

whitten wrote: post #56

I use a language originally called MUMPS, with the alternate name of M, which is the core language in Cache Object Script. I use it because it has features that are still not (really) included in more "modern" languages, because it is actively used in niche markets, and because I've used it for 34 years, so I have a lot of experience in it and tools written in it. It is incredibly terse, which allows for use in tight…

There used to be a company called IDX which sucked in many MIT grads into the world of MUMPS. GE bought them.. do you work for GE?

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#64

Post by mistermann »

tdimaline wrote: post #5

I use Delphi. The RAD Studio IDE is super featured and it's really easy to create interfaces. A nice feature is that the programs produced contain all dependencies so nothing else needs to be installed when distributing.

I'm curious if you're familiar enough with other more modern languages and platforms to give an opinion on the relative efficiency of Delphi compared to some of the others? As someone who used to build lots of apps in MS Access (which is similar to Delphi but not as good), I find it takes far longer to build things with modern platforms, although you have much more capabilities.

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#65

Post by mistermann »

sycdan wrote: post #41

I use VBA for automating the production of pharmaceutical analytics reports, and have for the past 8 years. It is horrible in so many ways, but as far as I've found has the best support for manipulating the MS Office DOM, which is important because all the pharma reps use Excel/PowerPoint for everything and tend to have very specific nit-picky needs regarding their custom reports.

Have you ever investigated writing your code for office automation using C#? It takes a little bit to get it figured out, but being able to get away from VBA is worth it I think.

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#66

Post by mistermann »

0XAFFE wrote: post #23
ketzu wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Delphi was the first language I learned and I always thought it was a teaching language. What are you developing in delphi?

Full blown ERP with postgresql. Its super fast, as it is a native windows application and thats what our customers like about it. Also with nice components like devexpress its looking realy good, has high usability and is easy to develop.

I'd love to see some screenshots of a modern Delphi application if that's possible?

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#67

Post by maxaf »

gotofritz wrote: post #49
maxaf wrote: post #43

I use JavaScript to develop web applications in the financial sector. The runtime is a rusty bucket held together with duct tape, the language is dangerous and awkward to work with, and the ecosystem is utterly schizophrenic. Still, the money is good, so why not?

Oh, look, we got a comedian

Unfortunately I'm absolutely serious. JavaScript is a farcical joke, yet no one's laughing.

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#68

Post by ehudla »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #54
ehudla wrote: post #9

There's a huge difference between languages that are no longer fashionable, call them old-fashioned, and languages that never had wide following, if any, call them niche languages. Most of the languages you mention were never mainstream production languages, for good reasons.

You are surely joking. Do you really mean to say that Cobol is not a mainstream language? Are you claiming that banks and similar institutions are niches? If that is the case then pretty much all programming languages are niche languages.

I am claiming SNOBOL, Icon and Eiffel aren't, for example.

Re: Ask HN: Do you use an old or 'unfashionable' programming language?

#70

Post by Hoff »

hitekker wrote: post #42

My dad uses and has used BASIC. He's not a teacher, nor a hobbyist. He writes bank software. In BASIC. For forty years. At the same company. UBS, Bank of China, and other names all run this massive million(s)-line BASIC codebase, that he almost singlehandedly wrote, on minicomputers[1] powered by OpenVMS. With it, according to my father, they process billion dollars worth of transactions and other facets of their bus…

Not a surprise. There's a lot of that stuff around, on OpenVMS. There are new systems — yes, using BASIC on OpenVMS — being installed, too.

There are new Itanium servers with support added last year, another (final) generation is planned, and — in preparation for the end of Itanium — an OpenVMS port to x86-64 is presently underway, and there's a new OpenVMS release (for Itanium) is scheduled to arrive this March.

https://vmssoftware.com/products.html

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