I would still be very much grateful if you could impart upon me any knowledge on how to get into the field. I assume I need to learn assembly and COBOL. What would be good ways of getting into them?
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Anonymous2012-08-01 14:18
>>10
Not even, all you have to do is hang around in gay bars.
>>10
I recommend reading the OpenCOBOL documentation and searching for code examples on the Internet. That's how I learned COBOL.
Make sure that you learn the original COBOL and not that new OOP one, since all existing code is in the previous and you won't get a job otherwise.
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Anonymous2012-08-01 14:58
Get a white lab coat, buy some tape reels, find a pipe to smoke, dumpster dive for a dumb terminal, get binders with fake assembler code in it.
Now you can role-play being a mainframe programmer.
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Still Curious Bystander2012-08-01 14:59
>>12
Thank you kind sir. By your statement I presume that COBOL is what mainframes use. Is there a way that I can try it out on a regular computer? As in a virtual mainframe on my computer.
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Anonymous2012-08-01 15:58
>>14
You can compile COBOL programs into C sources using OpenCOBOL. It may not be exactly what you'll be using professionally, but it's good enough.
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still Curious Bystander2012-08-01 21:33
After I'm capable of understanding COBOL programs, what kind of programs should I start making? From a progression model of course.
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Anonymous2012-08-01 21:41
>>16
I recommend starting at the head and working your way down the shaft.
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Still a Bystander2012-08-01 23:41
>>17
Okay, so you are saying first I should work on understanding the code, then come back. Sounds good! Thank you anon-kun!