Re: maintaining skills

I KNEW this would happen!   "KILL THE MESSENGER!"

Being mad at the messenger or the message is not going to solve anything. 

Tiobe/Developer.com posted along with these stats, the following 
disclaimer, 

-*Disclaimer*-
"The TPC index is based on the world-wide availability of skilled 
engineers, courses, and third party vendors. This availability is 
determined by using the Google and Yahoo! search engines to calculate the 
ratings.

There are a number of methods for determining which programming languages 
are the most popular. If you ask ten developers for the most popular 
language, the odds are that the languages they use will influence their 
answer. If you look at the number of lines of code, you may find that some 
of the older languages seem to be more popular. You can check the number 
of classes or the number of job openings. If you go to the search engines, 
you can search on different langauges to see which returns the most 
results. 

This is all related to popularity. This doesn't indicate which is best or 
even which is the most used or has the most lines of code."
-*Disclaimer*-

Personally, I am a (iSeries) developer, who writes RPG, COBOL, CL, C, SQL, 
REXX, MI, etc. the list goes on and on. I also work in, write, and learn 
other languages as necessary to get the job done. The point being, I'm a 
Programmer who uses the "appropriate tool" (language) to get the job done. 
 I happen to believe the language isn't as important as the job that's 
required. Just like carpentry or auto mechanics, there is the "right tool 
for the job", and each tool (language) may work on the particular job your 
trying to complete, but the right tool just might make the job easier and 
even better. Obviously, if you're developing iSeries applications, then 
RPG is most likely the tool you would want to use. But whether or not you 
decide to face the facts, one day, like everything else on this earth, the 
iSeries/AS400 will cease to exist, after all, that is how we got here. 

I fail to understand why people find it necessary to defend an inanimate 
object, a programming language in this case. Perhaps it's because people's 
livelihood depend on this object. Of course, I guess it could be said that 
I'm doing the same thing by defending a set of statistics. I'm not saying 
that RPG or COBOL or any other language is dead (and neither is Elvis). I 
make a decent living using these languages. However, the demand for my 
skills, and the companies utilizing hardware/software that uses these 
languages is diminishing or they're just becoming harder to find. I could 
be foolish and think that this demand for my skills is probably due to the 
fact that these "archaic" languages are solid applications installed in 
places that don't require any additional modification/maintenance, however 
I know this to be untrue. I have helped re-write some of those RPG/COBOL 
applications for Windows/Internet/Unix/Linux as the requirement demands.

Popularity aside, the user/customer's requirement (needs & desires) should 
be used in helping to determine the language that the application is 
developed in. Then, we as the developer should determine which 
language/platform will be the most effective to implement the solution to 
fit their requirement. Again, this is where the "right tool" for the job 
should fit. Unfortunately, the "best tool" isn't always the "right tool" 
in the users eye. A good example of this was Betamax vs. VHS. Sometimes, 
the users' preference will determine what and how we do our jobs. In the 
end, you can choose to learn/write software in whatever language you 
choose or have a fondness for. But, if that software is deemed by the 
users/customers as unfriendly or unusable or even ugly compared to today's 
Internet-driven methodology, then it doesn't matter what you used.

Sorry for the rant.

Ron Adams






"Jim Franz" <jfranz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: midrange-jobs-bounces+ron_adams=cranevalve.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx
03/17/2005 06:58 AM

 
        To:     <midrange-jobs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
        cc: 
        Subject:        Re: maintaining skills


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I sent this to the tiobe.com survey....
I would not bank my career on this survey of languages.
I did my own quick survey at dice.com (technology job postings).
There are 268 RPG openings, far more than pascal(25)  or idl (25) which 
both
made the list.
I did send tiobe.com a slight rant as to why i think google searches is 
not
a scientifically valid study.
jim franz
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Liotta" <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <MIDRANGE-JOBS@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: maintaining skills


> *** Please pay close attention when replying to a message on this list!
> *** If you want the reply to go to the list, use REPLY-TO-ALL
> *** Recruiters may advertise only permanent employment positions in this
list.
>
>
> Learning new languages has been a part of my career from the beginning.
Interpreting graphs and tables such as this and others has not been. The
indicated table was from "December 2004". Here's the top three from March
2005:
>
> 1 C     19.465%     +0.54%  A
> 2 Java  18.871%     -4.30%  A
> 3 C++   11.632%     -2.87%  A
>
> Let's see... C was at 19.696% in December; it's at 19.465% in March and
shows a change of +0.54% in March. Meanwhile, Java was at 16.332% in
December; it's at 18.871% in March and shows a -4.30% change in March. 
(See
< http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index/index.htm >.)
>
> Interesting to interpolate January and February.
>
> Also interesting, the page above lists the next 30 languages in
'popularity'. RPG actually seems to be not bad.
>
> Lost in some of this is that C, Java, C++ and quite a few other 
languages
on the list are important iSeries languages. I suspect that a part of any
decrease in RPG is accounted for by increases in other languages on 
iSeries.
Existing RPG code already... ummm... exists. Not always a lot of need to
write it again, especially if done right in the first place.
>
> Tom Liotta
>
>
> ron_adams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> >http://www.developer.com/lang/other/article.php/3448451
> >
> >Note: this is as of December 2004.
> >
> >Position Programming Language Ratings Change Status
> >1  C                  19.696% +1.22% A
> >2  Java               16.332% -8.68% A
> >3  C++                11.914% -5.51% A
>
> -- 
> Tom Liotta
> The PowerTech Group, Inc.
> 19426 68th Avenue South
> Kent, WA 98032
> Phone  253-872-7788 x313
> Fax    253-872-7904
> http://www.powertech.com
>
>
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