Huffman, Jarad B.
jbhuffman at mdh.org
Wed Jul 16 09:58:20 CDT 2003
It is Western Illinois University. I should have clarified. This is not the beginning language. Java has been the standard for several years. COBOL is offered, and required to help those that might end up with a job like your son's - supporting legacy software. I like that they do that because it gives students a broader programming sense. Granted OOP is the current programming ideal but there are a number of non-OOP languages still in use. Jarad Huffman -----Original Message----- From: Wortz, Charles [mailto:CWortz at tea.state.tx.us] Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:51 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access? Jarad, You don't say where your local university is located, but obviously not near a technology hot spot. At the local university across the street from me, the beginning language for CS students is Java and most incoming freshmen that plan on majoring in CS already know it. Even in the current downturn, trying to hire graduates from their CS program for a position that does not use OOT is next to impossible. What we can find are graduates from other programs that have minored in CS or MIS and willing to take any position whether or not OOT. Charles Wortz Software Development Division Texas Education Agency 1701 N. Congress Ave Austin, TX 78701-1494 512-463-9493 CWortz at tea.state.tx.us -----Original Message----- From: Huffman, Jarad B. [mailto:jbhuffman at mdh.org] Sent: Wednesday 2003 Jul 16 09:26 To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access? two of the requirements for a BS in computer science at my local university are 2 semesters of COBOL. It's still widely used, sadly. Jarad Huffman -----Original Message----- From: Hale, Jim [mailto:jim.hale at fleetpride.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 9:18 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access? <who is going to be able to maintain his software if it <is not converted every few years to a technology that people are able and willing to work with?> My son just graduated from college with a business degree in MIS. He has had the GOOD fortune to land a great job with a major insurance company. The catch? He has been assigned to the mainframe maintenance team. He is attempting to learn COBOL, JCL and easytrieve (?) to service apps that might have been cutting edge 30 yrs ago. For someone whose total experience is with object oriented programming (he is a pretty good web designer) he is going nuts! Even the manuals are out of print <g>. Jim Hale -----Original Message----- From: Wortz, Charles [mailto:CWortz at tea.state.tx.us] Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:52 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access? Arthur, But in 30 years will the kids know how to use pencils? <grin> That is one of the reasons I told Chris to expect some conversions of his software. Unless he is planning on staying on the project for the next 30 years, who is going to be able to maintain his software if it is not converted every few years to a technology that people are able and willing to work with? The software does not wear out, but finding people that understand old software and are willing to maintain it is very expensive. The dBase applications I wrote 10-15 years ago probably still would work fine, but how are you going to find anybody that understands the dBase file structure and is willing to work with it? They would have to double my salary if they wanted me to stick with dBase. Thus, they all have been converted to Access since that is a technology that has an large labor pool of developers and maintainers. Charles Wortz Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com