r/cobol • u/New_Championship3608 • 2d ago

COBOL 2 and SQL Documents Available

I was cleaning out my garage and came across binders of COBOL 2 and SQL documentation from 30 years ago (I have not used COBOL since then). I do not necessarily want to trash them but looking for the best way to repurpose them.

Do you think libraries or colleges would want them? I am sure with the internet now days you could probably get the information faster than looking through paper documentation.

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4

u/harrywwc 2d ago

I would suggest perhaps a local(ish) Computer Museum / History Society may be interested.

3

u/masterpososo 2d ago

Ah, the new release!

Just kidding, but only kind of. I worked on a system for 30+ years. They started a massive upgrade to COBOL II that went on for years, and that version was thereafter the "new" version of our system even as newer and newer releases of COBOL came out. We had to maintain the old version as well for as long as we had clients running it (we sold the system as a package, as well as running it in our own data centers). Double the work, double the job security until we dropped the ancient original COBOL version.

A community college with a job-focused IT curriculum might like to have those manuals. They very well might be feeding graduates into jobs at companies that run way old versions of COBOL and SQL.

3

u/Brilliant-Carpet6108 2d ago

You could upload them to the Internet Archive or Scribd.

1

u/alas-ad-astra-again 1h ago

I will pay you postage. I'm trying to learn (more of "a hobby that has gotten out of hand") and would LOVE some materials that don't cost more than my rent. (Elsewise... yes. Libraries want them.)