[rupurt]

We're doing Mainframe modernizations/integrations with the cloud @Mechanical Orchard. It's been really fun to see and learn the entomology of how computing got to where it is today.

As other folks have described programming on the mainframe is about learning COBOL + JCL. I would also add that you need to understand how to read/write binary files according to a defined schema (Copybook) and encoding (EBCDIC, COMP, COMP-3, COMP-5). It's also helpful to deeply understand the intricacies of Db2 and different methods of connection (ODBC, JDBC, Db2 CLI).

I've even gone so far as to write an ODBC extension for DuckDB so that we can scan and process queries faster and with less MIPS usage. https://github.com/rupurt/odbc-scanner-duckdb-extension

https://www.mechanical-orchard.com

[BenjiWiebe]

Not sure what word you were looking for, but entomology is the study of bugs. Etymology, maybe? The study of the history of words?

"People who don't know the difference between etymology and entomology bug me in ways I cannot put into words."

[rupurt]

Thank you :) Etymology is what I meant. Been using the wrong word my whole life... :0

[xwowsersx]

Seems like a typo and they meant "evolution"