× The internal search function is temporarily non-functional. The current search engine is no longer viable and we are researching alternatives.
As a stop gap measure, we are using Google's custom search engine service.
If you know of an easy to use, open source, search engine ... please contact support@midrange.com.



Thanks for the information. We are certainly in a great position being on the iSeries. Your first scenarios work OK for me, one System i or a System i on the DMZ. However if the System i was the only platform in the mix, and I have had some customers as adamant about "iSeries or nothing" as the folks who are "Microsoft or nothing", then my loads of cheap Linux boxes would be loads of Linux partitions to a System i only shop. That is OK. System i can handle that.

I have seen several RPG CGI type applications that are easier to implement, than going the Java route, in an RPG only shop. They follow coding styles similar to 5250 style I/O and RPG programmers just "get it". We have two divisions of programmers in our company: RPG folks who live and breath the stuff and are much more productive developing web based apps using a CGI framework and Java guys who can crank out Struts/Tiles stuff in their sleep. Both are productive. Both comfortable with the tools they use. All of which runs on the System i. I am OK with that. I happen to be one of the few who work both sides, trying to keep the technologies and frameworks close enough so that our end users are oblivious to what, under the covers, is running the code (Is it RPG or Java?). I wish there was something that allowed templates and DB I/O to be shared more fully, but we are holding our own. Very cool stuff, regardless of language.

I wasn't aware that "JSPs eventually compile down to machine code." I assumed that JSP compiled to servlets which ran in a JVM which meant it was still "interpreted" to some extent. But then, I haven't spent a lot of time pondering the internals of Java. Interesting information. Using AXIS for exposing Java web services was really simple. But, I'll take a look at JAX. Can't imagine how it could get even easier but I can always use better tools and API's in my Java development.

Agreed that Java has many more tools and ready made API's. But, I wouldn't use that as the sole rationale for not developing RPG equivalents. There are some "pain points" that I think could be addressed in RPG that would encourage more application modernization and would give RPG programmers a more comfortable environment to grow from. Not everyone enjoys jumping into Java, PHP, and other non-RPG web technologies. The success of the System i platform, is, to some extent, still tied to RPG programmers so I'll continue to pursue tools that pull them into the 21st century.

Pete

Joe Pluta wrote:

That's just not the direction I'd take.  I'd certainly keep all business
logic in RPG, but I'd much rather have the web serving piece in Java, for at
least two different reasons.

First, the plethora of web handling code that I don't have to write.  I
mean, you're going to have a browser interface, right?  Well, all the
session handling stuff is already there for me, I don't have to rewrite it
all.  All the web services stuff is already in place as well.  Have you seen
the JAX code?  It makes Web Services look like child's play.  There are a
wide variety of frameworks available, and even some framework-aware IDEs.
Reinventing all those wheels for RPG is just a bad idea, especially since
JSPs eventually compile down to machine code.  No matter how sophisticated
your RPG-CGI code is, at the end of the day you're still parsing and
plugging templates.

Second, I can offload the interface piece.  Depending on my business
requirements, I can have everything on one System i, or I can put a second
System i in the DMZ, or I can use a whole battery of cheap Linux boxes for
failover and load balancing, or any of a number of different configurations
that I just don't get with RPG.

So unless you have some sort of aversion to Java, there's simply no good
reason to use RPG for your web tier.

Joe


As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This thread ...

Follow-Ups:
Replies:

Follow On AppleNews
Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page

This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].

Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.