Dr. Dobb's Journal August 1997
Publishing can be a funny business. Why, just the other day I was chuckling over the draft of Michael Swaine's "Programming Paradigms" when I realized his musings about the bright future of Cobol programmers was exactly what I intended to write about. Geez, scooped by my own editor-at-large. As guardian of the final word, I could have Ctrl-Xed a paragraph or two, but being a bigger person than that, I'll just add a comment or two to Michael's missive.
Yes, the Year 2000 problem has driven the demand for Cobol programmers way up. According to some reports, Cobol programmers scraping by on $25 per hour for contract work a year ago are now getting upwards of $70 per hour. Cobol programmers are in such demand, says Allegiant Legacy Solutions president George Luntz, that some are commanding salaries of $100,000 to $200,000 a year. Passing the cost along, Cobol-focused consulting firms such as Luntz's Allegiant (http://www.allgnt.com/) are charging corporate clients up to $1200 per day.
Driving this feeding frenzy for Cobol coders are businesses like Electronic Data Systems, which is looking to hire 400 Cobol coders this year and 1000 more in 1998 -- even while EDS overall is cutting jobs by 10 percent. To fill the void, firms such as SPR Inc. (http://www.spr.com/) and Complete Business Solutions (http://www.cbsinc.com/) are running crash courses and Cobol "boot camps." And, as you probably already guessed, there's http://www.coboljobs.com/. The work isn't flashy, but it will put a free-range chicken in every pot and a Lexus or two in the garage.
No one was laughing around here last month when we decided not to publish a very good article on a subject we knew you'd be interested in. It wasn't a problem for us that the article was written by an Intel employee on his own time, but it was for Intel lawyers. In this case, Intel legal beagles were insistent that they dictate the content and presentation of what you read, particularly in terms of trademarks. As if that wasn't enough, it was suggested to the author that he would face termination if the article appeared without the mandatory wording.
Caught between the rock of costing the author his job and the hard place of bending to Intel legal histrionics, we opted not to publish. Still, having a bigger heart (if not bank account) than Intel, we did pay the author in full, even though money wasn't his motivation.
It's worth noting Intel's approach to publishing information, as described by Robert Collins in "Inside the Pentium II Math Bug" on page 52. Perhaps in an attempt cooked up by Intel lawyers to dodge responsibility, the integer-overflow bug Collins examines was sloughed off as a "Flag Erratum." Hey, a bug is a bug, whether it's wearing a shiny suit or not.
On an up note, I'm pleased to announce a new publishing venture. In cahoots with long-time DDJ contributing editor Ray Duncan, we've launched "Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books," an online book-review site at http://www.ddj.com/. In addition to all of the reviews from our "Programmer's Bookshelf" column, you'll find many more that appear in electronic form only. Of course, this also means we'll be needing more book reviews than ever before. Contact Ray at duncan@cerfnet.net or editors@ddj.com, and we'll put you to work.
It goes without saying that Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books is an independent source of information about computer books -- something that's becoming rare indeed on the World Wide Web. Whether you've noticed it or not, computer-book reviews that appear on the Web are increasingly concentrated at sites sponsored by book publishers, booksellers, or others with vested interests in favorable reviews. Face it, do you really think book publishers or bookstores are going to criticize books they are trying to sell you?
Reminiscent of the never ending Intel vs. AMD legal spats, online bookstores such as Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/) and Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/) are having growing pains of their own. On the very day Amazon.com filed its initial public offering, new kid on the cyberblock Barnes & Noble lobbed a lawsuit over Amazon.com's claim of being the "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." Barnes & Noble believes it's the "World's Largest Bookseller Online" and has a banner proclaiming it.
If they're using the number of published titles they offer as a metric, both sites have work to do. While searching Amazon.com for books I've authored, for instance, two books were listed that have never been written, let alone published. (Over ten years ago, I did talk to publishers about writing the books, but never went forward with either project.) Stating that one book is a "special order" and the other is "hard to find" is an understatement, to say the least. The same search at barnesandnoble.com also turned up one of these books. (It was also available by "special order.") Not to be left out, Ray Duncan found a book he'd never written for sale, too.
Virtual bookstores selling virtual books. Like I said, publishing can be a funny business.
--Jonathan Erickson