this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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[DISCUSS] IBM using LLMs to convert COBOL to Java (techcrunch.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by bahmanm@lemmy.ml to c/programming@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3758187

It's not the 1st time a language/tool will be lost to the annals of the job market, eg VB6 or FoxPro. Though previously all such cases used to happen gradually, giving most people enough time to adapt to the changes.

I wonder what's it going to be like this time now that the machine, w/ the help of humans of course, can accomplish an otherwise multi-month risky corporate project much faster? What happens to all those COBOL developer jobs?

Pray share your thoughts, esp if you're a COBOL professional and have more context around the implication of this announcement ๐Ÿ™

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[โ€“] ramble81@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've actually talked with two other companies that are doing that rather than hiring people to convert things. Since it's not asking the LLM to create code from scratch or a framework, apparently it works surprisingly well and then they have a dev, versed in a modern language go through it, and ensure it's relatively sane. The quote I heard was "it's really no different than picking up someone else's code to look at".

[โ€“] isosphere@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I'd probably do this for a hobby project

but financial software? no way in heck!