I've spent some time working in finance, so I've actually worked with COBOL developers personally in multiple different roles. In all those cases they were maintaining legacy applications that ran on IBM mainframes. Why would a company choose to use COBOL if they weren't restricted to what ran on IBM's mainframe infrastructure? Serious question, not an attack.
I get that many of these legacy applications are some of the most battle-tested things in existence, and do what they do very well. I've seen them in action personally. However I'm also under the impression that COBOL is just not that amazing compared with modern alternatives: It's not easy to write, or maintain, and (as far as I understand) the things that make it 'fast' have more to do with the platform than COBOL itself.
I'd love to know more about why someone would choose COBOL today, if anyone can fill me in.
I get that many of these legacy applications are some of the most battle-tested things in existence, and do what they do very well. I've seen them in action personally. However I'm also under the impression that COBOL is just not that amazing compared with modern alternatives: It's not easy to write, or maintain, and (as far as I understand) the things that make it 'fast' have more to do with the platform than COBOL itself.
I'd love to know more about why someone would choose COBOL today, if anyone can fill me in.