Dijkstra is not implying anywhere that COBOL is "complex".
On the other hand, I would not even call COBOL in itself reliable. I used it twice in my career, and it always needed a tremendous amount of handholding from user and developers to run, and very often the main user HAD to be a developer.
The first time was in a major bank, and the second time it was in a major university. My job in both cases was to migrate away from it and have a system that could run independently rather than needing a developer babysit it.
On the other hand, I would not even call COBOL in itself reliable. I used it twice in my career, and it always needed a tremendous amount of handholding from user and developers to run, and very often the main user HAD to be a developer.
The first time was in a major bank, and the second time it was in a major university. My job in both cases was to migrate away from it and have a system that could run independently rather than needing a developer babysit it.