Learning old languages
 

I am wondering if It would be a good idea to learn some older languages. If you think about it who is going to maintain the older code which would otherwise be way too expensive to rewrite in modern languages. Now I know that there are companies that still use old code, but is there enough for it to be worth learning such languages?

What do you guys think?

Depends on if you want to be maintaining code all the time. It seems like the market is there, and I've heard that the pay is decent. On the other hand, that's gotta be incredibly boring. And typically specialized. Some of the older members could probably give better opinions though...

Meh. Yes, there are a lot of legacy systems using old languages such as Fortran and COBOL. Is it a good idea to learn those languages? That all depends on what kind of company you want to work for.

Many young companies use recent (sometimes even emerging) technologies, so for those companies, old languages not in common use would not be a large asset. Learning them will still expose you to different ways of solving the same problems, which is always a good thing. However, it probably won't go beyond that.

For older companies that have a large code base, it would definitely be an asset. Some of these companies have no interest in rewriting their code- at least not in the foreseeable future- and as such, the skills would be useful. Even if the company wants to migrate all their Fortran and IBM 360 assembly to C# or Java, they will require programmers versed in the older languages to do it. For these latter ones, you will notice they require old and new language skills. Bringing only one half of the skill set to the table won't land you a job.

I think your most productive step regarding this matter would be to pick the brains of people in the industry. Get a feel for the ratio of companies that require these skills. Get an idea of the types of systems they develop- if none of them do work you'd find interesting, it's probably not for you. Ask them how valuable these skills were when they were hired (and how long ago they were hired), and how valuable the skills are today.

And yes, I realize this might be what you're trying to do here, but with a few notable exceptions, there don't seem to be a lot of active posters here with the kind of experience that would give their opinions much weight.

I don;t think it would be a bad idea to learn. You don't know who you will work for in the future. But if you work for a company that doesn't use older languages you will just have that much more knowledge.

The thing is, they don't really teach old languages in schools. There is old code to maintain, but the number of programmers which can maintain the code is going down. So now my question is, Is there enough of a demand right now to start learning them?

What exactly are you calling "old" languages?

How bout not learning old languages and let's make some money on newer easier programming that is managed? Don't keep Grandpa alive longer than he can live.

So how do you convert the "old" code to "newer easier" code if you don't understand a lick of it?

I guess languages that are not in demand as they were 10 or 15 years ago.

I say go for it. You will be able to maintain old code, convert old apps that are written in an older language to a newer language, it will look better on your resume, get a feel of what programmers had to go through, and maybe make you appreciate newer languages more! :P

Killing grandpa is usually not a good choice :rolleyes:

Basically from what I see is that there will be an increase in demand in programmers who can maintain the old code and the supply of such people is decreasing with time. Everyone knows what happens when demand is high and supply is low, right?