Not my opinion--came from the Cobol Report Newsflash--although, I've had a vew problems with Java.
<sarcasm alert>
Java is mostly for this whooped-tee-do Internet, on-line stuff; merely a passing fad.
COBOL is where it's at; COBOL runs forever (it really does run a long time)!
Legacy means that it still works, and by now, since it's in COBOL, it runs flawlessly unless the hardware fails.
Remember that C is really COBOL without the OBOL!
Redundantly redundant: Structured COBOL!
Java will probably never amount to anything more than a hill of (coffee) beans!
</sarcasm alert>

With MPE i/X 7.0, Java should actually outperform COBOL in many instances, if I'm interpreting what I've seen right.

>>> Tom Brandt <[log in to unmask]> 02/27 8:36 AM >>>
At 07:26 AM 2/27/2001 -0800, Doug Becker wrote:
<snip>
>One aspect that is never touched upon in this article or others is what 
>happens when Java can't handle the load and the system is rewritten in 
>Cobol. This happens more frequently than one would be led to believe by 
>the media. Java is in some ways like a garbage disposal. Garbage disposals 
>at first seemed like the be-all and end-all solution. No more 
>heavy-lifting required. Then the plumber after changing out the unit and 
>retrieving your fingers advises you not to put bones, large quantities of 
>vegetables, or non-food items in the disposal * it just wasn't built for that.
>
>http://www.sunworld.com/swol-04-1998/swol-04-cobolconversion.html 

Is Java's inability to handle heavy loads due to the language itself, or is 
it due to the way it is executed via bytecode interpreted/executed by the JVM?

Can a Java program compiled to a NMPROG be just as capable as a COBOL program?

--------------------------------
Tom Brandt
Northtech Systems, Inc.
313 N. 1st Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
http://www.northtech.com/