Re: Rewriting SSA. Is This A Chance For GNU/Linux?

On 3/31/25 8:11 AM, chrisv wrote:

c186282 wrote:
 

   Oh, I agree ... trying to "rapidly rebuild" the "Just Works"
   code-base is VERY risky. As said, most of those old COBOL
   apps on those old computers were basically PERFECT - and
   the fallout from being IMperfect is SEVERE - both politically
   and per-individual affected. Extreme caution is advised.

 Sorry for my below naive/stupid questions...
 How hard could SS be?  Are the rules so complex?

   Oh gawd YES !!! Big old govt bureaucracy with
   a zillion little tweaks and cheats thrown in to
   please some or another pol or pressure group.

I know it's hundreds
of millions of people, but that doesn't seen a huge challenge for
modern systems.  I don't know why it would be any harder than any
"significant" piece of software, like spreadsheet or database
software.
 I'm also wondering how large the code base could be, if it was written
fifty years ago when a megabyte was a huge amount of memory.

   There were tricks to swap stuff to and from mass
   storage, also creative use of batch jobs.
   So, I'll stick with the *carefully* warning - and
   don't take down What Works until it's very reliably
   duplicated by the newer code.