What the Odyssey and COBOL have in common? The answer is below
Hi everyone,
Welcome to Rocket® COBOL Fuel, your monthly source for all things COBOL. In this issue, you’ll learn about the ancient myths of the software world and the upcoming technical webinar.
Help us improve our COBOL products for you
As summer is in full swing and we're preparing exciting product updates for later this year, we'd love to hear about your experience with modernizing your COBOL applications and using our products.
Your feedback helps us improve our products, create more relevant content and events, and better understand your evolving business needs.
Please take a few minutes to complete our short survey, it should take no more than 15 minutes:
As a thank you, five randomly selected participants who complete the survey will receive a $50 USD Rocket Software gift card. Winners will be contacted after August 10.
AI Unit Testing for COBOL Demo
We’re continuing our COBOL in Action series with a new video that shows how to bring DevOps practices into your COBOL development processes. Watch the video below and share it with your teams.
The registration for the AI Unit Testing for COBOL Beta Program is still open, so feel free to join or share the program with your colleagues. Now is a great time to get started, with all program assets available and the first fixes already released.
Technical webinar about COBOL capabilities
If you're looking for practical ways to modernize and extend your COBOL applications, join our upcoming webinar, Leverage COBOL with GenAI, VS Code, and DevOps, on August 13 at 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. GMT.
You'll see demos of how Rocket COBOL products can help improve developer productivity with Visual Studio Code, use GenAI to better understand complex COBOL applications, bring DevOps practices into COBOL development, and connect COBOL applications with modern languages such as Java and C# through JSON.
We’re continuing our COBOL in Action series with a new video that shows how to bring DevOps practices into your COBOL development processes. Watch the video below and share it with your teams.
The Odyssey and COBOL
While the world is watching and reading The Odyssey, it’s a good reminder that COBOL has its own share of myths and misconceptions. And there’s no better time to set the record straight.
Many people still picture COBOL as it was 30 years ago, overlooking how much it has evolved. Let’s separate myth from reality and explore the facts so you can 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.
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.
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.
Today COBOL remains a powerful, adaptable technology supporting critical business operations. New technologies have enhanced its scalability, security, and efficiency, debunking the outdated myths. Read the full article here.
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