The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (Dutch computer scientist)
COBOL means Completely Obsolete Business Orientated Language.
Cobol has almost no fervent enthusiasts. As a programming tool, it has roughly the sex appeal of a wrench.
Charles Petzold (American programmer)
COBOL programmers understand why women hate periods.
COBOL programs are an exercise in Artificial Inelegance.
A computer without COBOL and Fortran is like a piece of chocolate cake without ketchup and mustard.
…First were mainframes, each shared by lots of people. Now we are in the personal computing era…
Mark D. Weiser (Chief scientist at Xerox PARC)
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
Kenneth Harry Olsen (co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation)
I predict that the last mainframe will be unplugged on 15 March, 1996.
Stewart Alsop Jr (partner in Alsop Louie Partners)
The mainframe (still) isn’t dead and isn’t even heading in that direction.
To me programming is more than an important practical art.
Grace Hopper (American computer scientist, Grandma COBOL)
From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.
Grace Hopper (American computer scientist, Grandma COBOL)
I’ve always been more interested in the future than in the past.
Grace Hopper (American computer scientist, Grandma COBOL)
Life was simple before World War II. After that, we had systems.
Grace Hopper (American computer scientist, Grandma COBOL)