Hi everyone,
COBOL has powered the world’s economy for decades, delivering reliability and scalability. Yet myths and outdated views persist, even among those who have worked with it. Many still picture COBOL as it was 30 years ago, missing how much it has evolved. Let’s separate myth from reality and give you the facts to talk about COBOL with confidence.
Myth #1: COBOL is no longer in use.
Reality: According to a Vanson Bourne survey, over 800 billion lines of COBOL code are active worldwide. While new COBOL applications are rare, existing systems are regularly maintained and expanded, adding more code each year.
Myth #2: COBOL can’t integrate with new tech stacks.
Reality: Rocket® COBOL integrates with JVM and .NET platforms, making it compatible with today’s languages and contemporary IT architectures like microservices. COBOL's portability has enabled enterprises to use their core business logic across every era of IT without requiring a complete rewrite.
Myth #3: COBOL only runs on mainframes.
Reality: COBOL started on mainframes, expanded to Linux and UNIX in 1976, and now runs almost anywhere, from the cloud and containers to virtualized environments. With one flexible codebase, enterprises reduce technical debt and lower costs while keeping their mission critical systems adaptable for the future – no matter what that holds or looks like.
Myth #4: COBOL is hard to learn.
Reality: COBOL is a relatively easy programming language to learn for developers from any background. One of the biggest challenges is navigating complex codebases without proper documentation or available specialists. Tools like Rocket COBOL Analyzer, support for industry-standard IDEs, and GenAI features simplify working with code for any engineer. To make COBOL even more accessible for new developers, Rocket offers free "Learn COBOL in One Day" course and an active COBOL community where you're reading this.
Using Rocket Visual COBOL, we created a CI/CD pipeline in AWS for rapid deployment. Instead of two major releases a year, we deployed 800 times in 12 months.”
Mark Bell
Virtual Machine Environment - Replacement Program Deputy Director at Department for Work and Pensions
Myth #5: Modernization requires rewriting COBOL applications in a new language.
Reality: Rocket COBOL products let you modernize and extend COBOL systems without rewriting the whole application from scratch. You can keep and reuse valuable business logic, remove outdated code, and reduce technical debt incrementally. Built-in tools let you refactor code automatically, making it easier to test, maintain, and update the application. This approach is especially effective for large, business-critical systems, where gradual transformation is often more strategic than a full rebuild.
Thankfully our architecture was designed using COBOL and this simple fact meant we were able to leverage Rocket Visual COBOL by Rocket Software to change the environment without changing the business logic or component parts.”
Patrick Gueneau
IS Architect at MAIF
What myth around COBOL/ACUCOBOL do you notice? Feel free to share your thoughts in the thread.
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Sava Kovalenko
PMM
Rocket Software Forum Member
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