From: arne@vajhoej.dk   
      
   On 12/1/2025 8:37 AM, Dan Cross wrote:   
   > I've long suspected (but I admit I have no evidence to support   
   > this) that one of the reasons there is so much COBOL code in the   
   > world is because, when making non-trivial changes, programmers   
   > first _copy_ large sections of the program and then modify the   
   > copy, to avoid introducing bugs into existing functionality.   
      
   Copying and modifying code instead of creating reusable libraries   
   has been used by bad programmers in all languages.   
      
   But last century then Cobol and Basic were the two easiest   
   languages to learn and Cobol was one of the languages with   
   most jobs. So it seems likely that a large number of bad   
   programmers picked Cobol. Bringing bad habits with them.   
      
   Today I would expect that crowd to pick client side JavaScript   
   and server side PHP.   
      
   There is also something in the Cobol language.   
      
   Large files with one data division, lots of paragraphs   
   and lots of perform's is easy to code, but it is also   
   bad for reusable code.   
      
   It is sort of the same as having large C or Pascal files   
   with all variables global and all functions/procedures   
   without arguments.   
      
   It is possible to do it right, but when people have   
   to chose between the easy way and the right way, then ...   
      
   Arne   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)