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0 pointsemporas11mo ago0 comments

We will use better technology for electronic transactions. Most of banks worldwide still use COBOL for most (all?) their software infrastructure.

You can do as many electronic transactions as you wish without internet or electricity, provided you have something with charged battery. Problem is the transaction cannot be verified without internet, but when internet gets restored, all transactions can be applied.

That technology exists for more than a decade, so banks will implement it in 20 or 50 years. Most sane people will not wait patiently for half a century till some software engineer implements electronic transactions with COBOL, and we will use some kind of blockchain much sooner than that.

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shallichange11mo ago

I see no problem with COBOL. I'd rather have my credit card transaction be processed with 40yo well tested COBOL than Java from the newest intern using copilot.

sgt10111mo ago

> Most of banks worldwide still use COBOL for most (all?) their software infrastructure.

Nahhh - some banks have some parts of the infrastructure in COBOL. Specifically larger retail banks often have their ledgers in COBOL. Most of them want rid and are actively getting rid. Most places have had programs to root COBOL out since before 2000, but there are residual implementations remain. The ledgers are the hardest place to deal with because of the business case as well as the awkwardness. Basically there's not much of an advantage (or at least hasn't been) in modernizing so keeping the thing going has been the option. Now people want to have more flexible core systems so that they can offer more products, although not so sure that customers want this or can consume it. Still - it supports the idea of modernisation so not many people are keen to challenge.

The most common big implementations I come across are in Java.

emporasOP11mo ago

They use Go as well, I know someone who writes it for banks, but most of their infrastructure is written in COBOL. There are some sources [1], and some people have told me the same in person, not in exact numbers or percentages, but roughly the same.

Anyway point remains, electronic transactions with no internet or electricity is a solved problem, and banks don't want to solve it or they can't due to incompetency or maliciousness.

Currency transactions worth their weight in gold, it is of utmost importance for transactions to always be published to a central authority right away. If they don't have to be published, they should not exist at all. Imagine people buying stuff without anyone knowing right away! That should never, ever exist, for any reason.

[1] https://thenextweb.com/news/ancient-programming-language-cob...

smackeyacky11mo ago

It’s not incompetence it’s regulations and inertia. Getting your central banking system past the regulators in most countries is difficult enough that it shades the effort required to replace the core systems.

20after411mo ago

> Imagine people buying stuff without anyone knowing right away! That should never, ever exist, for any reason.

I can imagine it and it happens all the time. Your version sounds very dystopian.

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