To be fair, afaik (second hand account), when COBOL appeared it drove a bunch of non-expert programmers into the field, mostly domain-driven people. It really was a new age of programming. (which then-experts didn't really see in a positive light)
I think it's a little unfair to characterize COBOL as a failure in that regard. It tremendously increased the accessibility and use of programming and computing in general by way of consequence; it's been instrumental in allowing the programmer population to grow massively.
Granted, extraordinary superlative claims never materialize, but the intent, the vision is important ime. Especially in business settings.
Episode of Command Line Heroes by Red Hat about COBOL: https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line-heroes/season-3/the-i...
I think it's a little unfair to characterize COBOL as a failure in that regard. It tremendously increased the accessibility and use of programming and computing in general by way of consequence; it's been instrumental in allowing the programmer population to grow massively.
Granted, extraordinary superlative claims never materialize, but the intent, the vision is important ime. Especially in business settings.