[Info-vax] OpenVMS async I/O, fast vs. slow

[Dan Cross]

In article <kqs6nnF6p35U7 at mid.individual.net>,
bill  <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> wrote:
>On 11/6/2023 5:58 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>> On 2023-11-05 16:58, bill wrote:
>> 
>>> We have so many "colleges" teaching trade school courses (like diesel
>>> mechanics, HVAC welding and even motorcycle mechanics)I really wish
>>> trade schools would step up to the plate ad start teaching IT and in
>>> particular thing like COBOL, Fortran and PL/I.  They are not going away.
>> 
>> Academia should not teach languages. If they do, they are clearly not 
>> doing the right thing.
>
>I hear this all the time.  Believe it or not, in a way, it is a debate
>that has been going on for centuries.  Should college teach trades or
>just liberal arts and leave the trades to others?  Like it or not, the
>majority of college students are there with a belief that they will
>learn something that will enhance their future earnings and not just to
>expand their minds.

...and what makes you think that learning code will expand their
future earnings more than learning any other language?

>As for teaching languages. Every program I have ever seen taught
>languages.

Chemists have to learn how to do lab work, too.  Learning a
language in the course of one's undergraduate education is a
means to an end, not the end itself.
 
>> They should teach methods, principles, concepts, ideas.
>
>They teach that, too, but without detailed knowledge of a language
>it really doesn't do much for the student.
>
>> 
>> The language is just a tool. You need to learn and use different tools 
>> all the time. That you could/should learn at the place where it is 
>> used/needed. 
>
>The old OJT idea.  But most places expect when they hire you you will
>hit the ground running.

Well, then they should adopt technologies that the people they
can hire know, but pout over sour grapes because the kids aren't
taught the antiquated stuff they want them to know.

This is what's going to kill COBOL, by the way: eventually we'll
hit an inflection point where the cost of maintenance is high
enough to justify a rewrite.

>Thus the reason for this latest craze for
>"certification".  HR places a value on them.  The government requires
>them.  I really see little value in something you learned over the
>weekend in a boot camp and probably forgot by Teusday.

I suspect the reason so much "new" COBOL is written each year
is because, instead of modifying old and unmaintained code bases
they are instead copied and modified, leaving the original
intact.  Much of this has to do with the design of COBOL, by
the way.

	- Dan C.