In Aditi Rai’s (Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT)) mentorship blog, she outlines her experience as a 2024 Summer Mentee with the Open Mainframe Project, under the guidance of mentor Bruno Azenha, FSI Global Solution Architect, Red Hat, and Misty Decker, Mainframe Modernization Consult Leader, Kyndryl
How are things going with your mentorship project?
The mentorship project is progressing well, with significant strides made in research, analysis, and the initial drafting of the whitepaper.
The core content of the whitepaper is developed, covering key areas such as motivation, methodology, findings, and conclusions. The project is on track and evolving as planned, with a clear structure and detailed evaluation frameworks in place.
What are some successes you have had?
- Comprehensive Research: We have successfully gathered extensive data on COBOL and other programming languages, which is crucial for our comparative analysis.
- Framework Development: A significant achievement has been the creation of a robust classification and assessment framework to evaluate programming languages. This framework is generic enough to apply to various languages, not just COBOL.
- Detailed Analysis: The detailed analysis of COBOL, including its characteristics, community support, and compatibility with new technologies, provides valuable insights into its current relevance and future potential.
- Initial Draft Completion: Completing the initial draft of the whitepaper, which includes a well-structured layout with an executive summary, methodology, findings, and conclusion sections, is a notable milestone.
What are some challenges you’ve encountered?
- Data Collection: Gathering accurate and comprehensive data on the usage and support of legacy languages like COBOL has been challenging due to the limited availability of updated resources.
- Framework Validation: Ensuring that the developed assessment framework is applicable to a wide range of programming languages and not just tailored to COBOL required careful consideration and iterative refinement.
- Balancing Detail and Clarity: Striking the right balance between providing detailed technical insights and maintaining clarity for a diverse audience has been an ongoing challenge.
Will you be able to accomplish all of the goals of your project by the end of the mentorship?
Yes, I am confident that all the goals of the project will be accomplished by the end of the mentorship. The foundational work has been laid out, and the remaining tasks primarily involve refining the whitepaper, incorporating additional data, and finalizing the conclusions. The project is on track to deliver a comprehensive, well-researched whitepaper that provides valuable guidance on the future use and investment in COBOL and other programming languages.
Stay tuned
Mentees will be blogging about their experiences. Stay tuned here and the Open Mainframe Project social channels for updates.
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