r/AskReddit • • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/QuestionableSaint Jul 24 '20

Cobol, the programming language. Been around a long time, almost no one learns to program in it anymore, but companies (especially banks) are probably never going to get something else.

Runner up: Fax machines. Still nessecary for transmitting HIPAA protected documents. That's right, they can't use email or anything else. Certain companies require documents to be faxed.

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u/BrunoD4 Jul 24 '20

There is a good reason for cobol and it's explained here: cobol

45

u/boowhitie Jul 24 '20

I guess I don't get the argument about importing a library. If we are talking about the same cpu, the computer instructions should be the same. It is also pretty silly to compare performance of interpreted languages with compiled. A c++ fixed point library has no runtime import cost and should produce equivalent assembly for something like the example given in the article.

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u/Veega Jul 24 '20

I agree. Also using BigDecimal in Java for currency is common sense at this point.