So basically the real work is not syntax translation (which a machine could do, albeit probably poorly) but semantics translation (which requires a deep understanding of both languages as well as what the code's intent is), so that you can do things like replace goto's with function calls without breaking expected behavior given inputs.
A similar problem to translating procedural code in a language with mutable variables to functional code in a language with immutable variables. A lot of old functions in C etc. were expected to modify their passed-in arguments, for example, which would be a no-no today (note: not in the C space, I'm currently an Elixir dev, but I'm hoping that's now frowned upon!)
I've noticed that LLM's are still not very good at this, too.
I'm unfamiliar with COBOL but I'm currently looking for work; not sure if you'd be up for a conversation just to discuss your work since (for some odd reason) I enjoy refactoring (as well as software preservation and validation); at the very least I'd probably be a decent rubber-duck if you got stuck on something lol
To get the username you'd need to be familiar with at least the old Hebrew translation of Lord of the Rings and my mother :)
I'm enjoying tech-leading this project very much. I get to spend the time needed to write unusually high quality code, and there's a wide funnel that collects interesting debugging challenges and gets the best ones to my desk.
Working with a bank is... not for everyone. Not for me ten years ago, for example.
A similar problem to translating procedural code in a language with mutable variables to functional code in a language with immutable variables. A lot of old functions in C etc. were expected to modify their passed-in arguments, for example, which would be a no-no today (note: not in the C space, I'm currently an Elixir dev, but I'm hoping that's now frowned upon!)
I've noticed that LLM's are still not very good at this, too.
I'm unfamiliar with COBOL but I'm currently looking for work; not sure if you'd be up for a conversation just to discuss your work since (for some odd reason) I enjoy refactoring (as well as software preservation and validation); at the very least I'd probably be a decent rubber-duck if you got stuck on something lol