学习与使用“旧”语言（Ada/Cobol/Algol）
有什么充分的理由学习 Ada 和 COBOL 等语言吗？用这些语言编程有前途吗？我对这些语言很感兴趣，目前学习它们只是为了好玩。
Are there any good reason to learn languages such as Ada and COBOL? Are there any future in programming in those languages? I'm interested in those languages and i'm currently learning them just for fun.
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COBOL 程序员有一些职位，但总的来说，他们正在寻找经验丰富的开发人员。据我所知，您不太可能在 COBOL 中获得第一个编程角色 - 一般来说，他们正在寻找具有类似应用程序领域经验并且熟悉构建对遗留系统的理解的人员。了解语言的局限性有助于理解为什么在连接到大型机时所要求的某些事情被认为是困难或有问题的。
There are roles out there for COBOL programmers, but in general they are looking for experienced developers. From what I have seen you are unlikely to get a first programming role in COBOL - in general, they are looking for people experienced with similar application domains and who are familiar with building an understanding of legacy systems. Knowing the limitations of the language can be useful for understanding why certain things you are asking for when connecting to mainframes are either considered difficult or problematic.
学习新语言总是值得的。即使它们在专业上对你没有用处，他们也可能会教你一些你以前不知道的编程知识，或者至少拓宽你的视野。
至于前景，从快速阅读的内容来看，ADA 似乎仍然在某种程度上支持航空业的关键系统，而 Cobol 仍然在商业中占有一席之地。我认识一位 20 多岁的工程师，他所有的代码都是用 fortran77 编写的，因为这正是行业所需要的！
虽然寻找这些语言的雇主数量可能很少，因为了解这些语言的人有限，但专门研究这些语言的开发人员的薪水可能相当高。当在其中开发的关键任务应用程序可能花费数百万美元来取代必须比平时支付更多费用来维护现有系统的编码员时，很容易接受。
Its always worthwhile learning new languages. Even if they're never useful to you professionally chances are they'll teach you something about programming you didn't know before or at very least broaden your outlook.
As for prospects from a quick bit of reading around it seems ada is still somewhat in favour for critical systems in the aviation industry and Cobol still has its place in business. I know an engineer in his mid 20's who writes all his code in fortran77 as that's what industry wants!
While the number of employers looking for these languages might be low, because there are a limited number of people who know them the salary for developers who specialise in them can be quite high. When mission critical apps developed in them could cost millions to replace having to pay more than usual for a coder to maintain the existing system is easily accepted.
Ada 用于航空航天/国防工业。 COBOL 用于金融行业。 Fortran 用于工程领域。 “有未来吗”这个问题是主观/争论性的，因为所有这些语言仍在积极使用。
Ada is used in the aerospace/defense industry. COBOL is used in the financial industry. Fortran is used in engineering. The question "is there any future" is borderline subjective/argumentative since all of those languages are still in active use.
Fortran 很古老，但用于科学编程。 Ada 是 VHDL 的基础，VHDL 是电气工程中非常重要的语言。您也可以说 C 很“老”，而且几乎到处都在使用它。
Fortran is old, but is used in scientific programming. Ada is the basis for VHDL, a very important language in electrical engineering. You could also say that C is "old", and it's used pretty much everywhere.
Cobol 和 Algol 仍在广泛使用。你不会发现它们在你最新、最伟大的科技公司上运行，但你可以打赌你的汽车保险公司会处理它的索赔。您的健康保险公司肯定会使用它。关于科博尔死亡的报道被严重夸大了。
在真正教你 Cobol 或 Algol 的大学和地方，你会发现困难。因此，为这些所谓的“死亡语言”寻找开发人员变得越来越难。很难告诉一个半辈子都在用 Java、iOS 和 Perl 编程的高中生孩子 Cobol 就是赚钱的地方。
Cobol/Algol 开发人员变得越来越难找，所以如果你口袋里有这种语言，它只会帮助你。在我看来，Algol 是一种更难掌握的语言。你可以教任何一个有半点脑子的人如何用 Cobol 编程。
这些语言不会很快消失。只要像 IBM 和 Unisys 这样的公司在大型机上为它们提供编译器，它们就会继续蓬勃发展。因此，拿起一本书和一个开源编译器来温习一下。有很多人在寻找 Cobol/Algol 开发人员。
Cobol and Algol are both still in widespread use. You won't find them running on your latest and greatest tech firms, but you can bet your car insurance company process' claims on it. Your health insurance company most certainly uses it. Reports of Cobol's death have been highly exaggerated.
You will find difficulty in colleges and places that will actually teach you Cobol or Algol. So finding developers for these so-called dead languages is getting harder and harder. Very tough to tell a kid coming out of high school that has been programming in Java, iOS, and Perl for half his life that Cobol is where the money is at.
Cobol/Algol developers are becoming harder and harder to come by, so if you have that language in your back pocket, it is only going to help you out. Algol is a lot harder of a language in my opinion to get good at. You can teach anyone with half a brain how to program in Cobol.
These languages are not going away any time soon at all. As long as companies like IBM and Unisys provide compilers for them on the mainframes, they will continue to thrive. So grab a book and an open source compiler and brush up. Plenty of people out there looking for Cobol/Algol developers.
许多“古老”语言如今仍在积极使用。例如，Lisp 以 Clojure 的形式再次流行起来。 Smalltalk 凭借 Seaside MVC 框架再次流行起来。
此外，许多最热门的开发语言大量借鉴了 Lisp 和 Smalltalk，这两种语言早在 C++ 出现之前就开创了面向对象的方法论。 Javascript、Ruby、Perl 6 和 Perl 5 Moose（对象系统）都使用 mixin，这些 mixins 首次使用于Lisp 和 Smalltalk。元类最初用于 Common Lisp 和 Smalltalk-80，现在又在 Perl 5 Moose、Objective-C（iPhone 开发）、Python 和 Groovy 中重新流行。
Many of these 'old' languages are actively in use today. Lisp for instance is gaining popularity again in the form Clojure. Smalltalk is becoming popular again with the Seaside MVC framework.
In addition many of the hottest development lanaguages borrow heavily from Lisp and Smalltalk, both of which pioneered Object Oriented methodologies long before C++ came along. Javascript, Ruby, Perl 6 and Perl 5 Moose (Object System) all use mixins which were first used in Lisp and Smalltalk. Metaclasses, first used in Common Lisp and Smalltalk-80, are making a resurgence in Perl 5 Moose, Objective-C (iPhone development), Python and Groovy.
就像学习拉丁语一样，了解英语和其他当前语言的单词的根源在哪里以及有多少是很有趣的。另外，如果你懂拉丁语，并且发现有价值的新书/论文/卷轴需要翻译，你也会突然变得有价值。
老实说，我想说学习它们对于历史角度来说非常有用，特别是如果你是一名语言设计师，但除此之外就没有什么了。
Much like learning Latin, it can be intriguing to understand where and how many English and other current languages' words had their roots. Also, if you know Latin and valuable new books/papers/scrolls are found that need translation, you suddenly become valuable too.
Honestly, I'd say learning them is great for a historical perspective, especially if you're a language designer, but not very much else.