States use programming from the 1950s still to process unemployment claims.

[Ronald_55]

 

Beware.. This is geeky....

 

I remember taking COBOL as basically a teaching language in the 90s. How in the heck are their systems even keeping up. This is pretty much like you doing your taxes on an Etch-A-Sketch

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/business/coronavirus-cobol-programmers-new-jersey-trnd/index.html

 

On top of ventilators, face masks and health care workers, you can now add COBOL programmers to the list of what several states urgently need as they battle the coronavirus pandemic.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy has put out a call for volunteers who know how to code the decades-old computer programming language called COBOL because many of the state's systems still run on older mainframes.

In Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly said the state's Departments of Labor was in the process of modernizing from COBOL but then the virus interfered. "So they're operating on really old stuff," she said.

Connecticut has also admitted that it's struggling to process the large volume of unemployment claims with its "40-year-old system comprised of a COBOL mainframe and four other separate systems." The state is working to develop a new benefits system with Maine, Rhode Island, Mississippi and Oklahoma. But the system won't be finished before next year.

"Literally, we have systems that are 40-plus-years-old," New Jersey Gov. Murphy said over the weekend. "There'll be lots of postmortems and one of them on our list will be how did we get here where we literally needed COBOL programmers?"

For instance, with more than 362,000 New Jersey residents filing for unemployment in the past two weeks, the 40-year-old mainframes that process those claims are being overloaded.

Coders have moved away from the aging language

COBOL, which stands for Common Business Oriented Language, is a computer programming language that was developed back in 1959, according to the National Museum of American History.

 

"It's a programming language that was used to create a very significant percentage of business systems over the period of the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s," Joseph Steinberg, an expert on cybersecurity, told CNN.

But over time, coders have moved away from the aging language.

"The general population of COBOL programmers is generally much older than the average age of a coder," Steinberg said. "Many American universities have not taught COBOL in their computer science programs since the 1980s."

Yet, the program persists in systems

Despite a dwindling number of COBOL programmers, a 2017 report by Reuters found that there are still 220 billion lines of COBOL in use today. 43% of banking systems are built on COBOL and 95% percent of ATM swipes rely on COBOL code.

Even in the federal government, COBOL is being used in agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Justice and Social Security Administration, according to a 2016 report by the Government Accountability Office.

A 2018 report by the inspector general for the Social Security Administration found that the administration maintained more than "60 million lines of COBOL" with "millions more lines of other legacy programming languages." The inspector general urged the administration to modernize its systems.

 

With more than 44,000 Covid-19 cases in New Jersey, the last thing the governor should have to worry about are computer systems, Steinberg, the cybersecurity expert, said.

"Governors should not have to think about computer systems during a pandemic," he said, "and we should have systems that if there are emergency situations, should not make the emergencies worse."

 

[Garufa]

Remember the excellent movie Space Cowboys? This Is a lot like that.

[jpx2rk]

I saw the same topic on Fox news earlier this week.  I took Cobol back in college since I needed a programming course or 2.  Guess I could come out of retirement eh?? And work for the gubberment???  NOPE.

[RED333]

Why does this not surprise me? I am not a programmer and willing to bet that the software that runs this site is WAY more advanced than what the .gov are using.

[ReeferMac]

You are 100% correct @RED333..... What's upsetting, is the stooges in the goobermint offices (for decades...) take our money claiming they're fixing these problems, modernizing the government, lean-sizing the operation... And whoops, turns out you haven't updated your payroll computer since the Kennedy Administration? I want a refund. Ditto for half my school taxes this year - little bastards are home, schools closed, teachers aren't teaching... you'd think I'd get my money back that paid for all that, wouldn't you?

It's broken folks, completely, utterly, irretrievably, broken.

Time to start over. Get the short ropes, tar and feathers, it's time for some boogaloo! 

 

- K
(sorry.. Wow, where did that come from?)

[DaveTN]

Ha, ha, ha, in one of the daily briefings Trump was getting hammered about when people would start getting unemployment. He said something to effect of, Hey look, all we can do is give the money to the states. We have no control over how fast they get it out. They tell me some states are using 40 year old computers, and are struggling with this.

[E4 No More]

5 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Ha, ha, ha, in one of the daily briefings Trump was getting hammered about when people would start getting unemployment. He said something to effect of, Hey look, all we can do is give the money to the states. We have no control over how fast they get it out. They tell me some states are using 40 year old computers, and are struggling with this.

It doesn't surprise me one bit. I've seen CRTs in several government offices. 

[DaveTN]

4 hours ago, ReeferMac said:

Time to start over. Get the short ropes, tar and feathers, it's time for some boogaloo! 

No need for tar, or feathers. You get the opportunity to start over about every four years. 

Last time many of us thought it would be great to have someone that isn’t a politician, and could help our economy recover. That is exactly what we got and exactly what he did.

That great economy was destroyed by a pandemic. It will require a good businessman at the helm for a quick recovery (is that's even possible). Would you like that to be Donald Trump or Andrew Cuomo? Or…would you like Joe Biden? I don’t think the dems will run Joe though. With his mind going, putting him in a debate with Trump would just be mean.

 

 

[Wdodd]

Yep, putting Biden side-by-side with our President in a debate would be worse than how  Custer’s single-shot Trapdoors fared against the Lakota’s repeating rifles!!