InfoWorld, always the sensationalist, announces in an alarming tone that Java is becoming the new Cobol. Provocative as it sounds, there’s no cause for concern, after all, you won’t consider replacing a tape deck that served you for years just because some shiny MP3 player offers hours of quality programming in a small package.
Let me tell you why there’s no need to worry.
For one, the mythical scary language InfoWorld alludes to is spelled COBOL, while the term “Cobol” itself denotes strong signs of Javafication.
For another, COBOL has proven its fortitude to survive through major transitions and upheavals in the software industry — from the advent of Dell PCs to the explosive growth of the Web to the RIAA campaign against P2P — and any technology that can outlive the cockroaches is good by me.
But most important, Cobol 2 Enterprise Edition™ promises to be better than its J2EE predecessor on any imaginable scale. The exact details span over 200 hefty specifications, and the best I can offer is a cursory glance, so let’s take a moment to review how C2EE will affect you.
Skills. C2EE promises to be a smooth transition by making no substantive changes to the language or its APIs, retaining every single feature added in the last 13 years. Spring 2.1 already supports C2EE using XML and/or annotations. In fact, by the time the JCP is done standardizing on JSR 666 you can expect to not give a damn.
Creativity. While Mort, Elvis and Einstein gave us .Net, the designers of C2EE have taken a more agile and streamlined approach basing it on the single-persona Dilbert. C2EE retains the same level of joyful and fun experience you came to expect from Enterprise software development. Developers will let their creative juices flow, delivering ever more imaginative, useful and simple to use applications for years to come. They may not all be working for you, though.
Data. A key point to remember is that unlike its predecessor, COBOL, C2EE will not force you to use IMS. Developers will continue to use the RDMBS as their primary object store for years to come, although some have labeled RDBMS the New IMS.
Scalability. Retaining the same proven architecture, C2EE will continue to scale to millions of boilerplate lines of code, expansive APIs with unnecessary abstractions, vendor licensing and perpetual maintenance fees.
Security. New products are on the horizon that will help you secure your code base against viral infection from languages like Ruby, JavaScript and Scala, using static checking to identify, isolate and disable the offending DRY patches of code.
Management. C2EE will retain its world-leading software management capabilities, allowing you to measure in real time and easily manage productivity through industry-set standards like LoC and LoX. Every effort will be made to prove the average developer’s disdain for functional and meta programming through whatever generics necessary.
Vendor support. Rest assured that all the major vendors who held your hand throughout the journey — from IBM to BEA, from SAP to Oracle — are committed to support large scale mainframe deployments of their application.
Virtualization. A hot trend in 2008, C2EE clearly stands to gain by retaining its position as the leading Enterprise virtualization technology, using its Hyper-Visor JVM™ architecture to render the OS unnecessary and virtualize all your business applications.
RIA. C2EE will continue its 50-year plan to dominate as the primary technology for developing and delivering on-demand RIA to Web browsers, with an ever expanding market now numbering in the hundreds of end-users.
Openness. Recently open-sourced C2EE is truly open to all those who dare enter.
The bottom line, don’t be alarmed by trends in the marketplace, or react without consulting your vendors first. Embracing C2EE as your core architecture moving forward will bring with it numerous benefits, in particular the promise of ever capitalizing on the investment in EJB, and quickly realizing the positive ROI in your off-shoring and SaaS strategies.
Rudolf Olah
Labnotes » Rounded Corners - 183 (The better COBOL)
