From what I've read, missing fields in COBOL are stored using ISO 8601:2004 standard. That is, they're given the date May 20, 1875. This isn't unique to COBOL. It's simply a way to get around null errors in databases. What's shocking is that Elon and his team are so incompetent they don't know this. - ThreadSky

samsachdev.bsky.social • 6 days ago

From what I've read, missing fields in COBOL are stored using ISO 8601:2004 standard. That is, they're given the date May 20, 1875. This isn't unique to COBOL. It's simply a way to get around null errors in databases. What's shocking is that Elon and his team are so incompetent they don't know this.

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caligreg.bsky.social•4 days ago

Dracula’s Pension Plan: A Musk Comedy Special

Elon, lost in conspiracy,
Claimed vampires get social security.
Old COBOL coding is really to blame.
Old Mainframes work better than Elon’s brain.

sanguinepar.bsky.social•6 days ago

Or they do know this, but are banking on most of the audience not knowing it.

misscantbewrong.bsky.social•6 days ago

I suspect they do not know this. This baby software engineers have likely never worked with a real relational database system so have no practical experience in understanding one. There are a lot of indications they’re posers.

jackjones23.bsky.social•6 days ago

Wouldn't surprise me at all if Elon's newbie software developers have only used NoSQL databases.

misscantbewrong.bsky.social•6 days ago

That seems obvious. It takes a lot of curiosity to dive into structured data!

sanguinepar.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yeah, both seem equally as likely. One thing we can be sure of though is that they don't give two shits about the truth.

misscantbewrong.bsky.social•6 days ago

💯

thegardeningbard.bsky.social•6 days ago

I worked with COBOL and nobody under 40 yo had the opportunity to learn it really. It's also extremely boring to learn 😆 I doubt they are understanding what they are reading, we had trouble finding people able to

misscantbewrong.bsky.social•6 days ago

I’m 49 😭 but my bff knows it

bruce-71.bsky.social•6 days ago

They know it. If they don’t they could fucking Google it. This is just another lie fed to people who want to believe in conspiracies and Musk has no shame and is accountable to know one.

madamehardy.bsky.social•6 days ago

Knowing the syntax is NOT the same as parachuting into an ancient system and comprehending the code.

bruce-71.bsky.social•5 days ago

Maybe they should, you know, make a fucking effort before falsely claiming that IRS is so dumb they’re paying benefits to thousands of 150 years olds. Actually, a more plausible explanation is that they’re lying, they know they’re lying, and they just want to foment outrage.

meinnameistbernd.bsky.social•6 days ago

unroll @skyview.social

moby-richard.bsky.social•6 days ago

That was a theory when we didn’t have the histogram. It doesn’t appear to fit the evidence - there’s not a spike right at 150 - but as Justin notes there are other explanations for why it’s still not mass fraud

cliffet.bsky.social•6 days ago

COBOL itself doesn't specify any particular date for representing missing values. https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/31289

misscantbewrong.bsky.social•6 days ago

Right, but if you are trying to calcs on missing values you will get errors — so you “plug” an obvious fake value that can be filtered out so calcs can be done on the database.

arthurdeodat.bsky.social•6 days ago

Prof Walters shared that the other day. That doesn’t explain why anyone older than 150 is listed, but his thread here proves that the data Musk is sharing is obviously false. Which anyone who’s ever used a computer before would understand. So Musk is either lying or a complete imbecile. Or both.

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