Re: "Webulating" RPG

> As many readers of this list will be aware, at the COMMON conference in San
> Antonio last Fall, we showed a "Technology Preview" of a version of VisualAge
> for RPG which generated Java bytecode.  This provides the ability for an
> application written with VARPG to be deployed over the web and made available
> to any user with a browser (i.e. it would run on Apple Mac, Network Stations,
> AIX, Win 95, Win NT, etc.)
> [snip]
> As part of the process, I'm asking you folks for your comments on the
> usefulness of such a tool to you.  We've heard from a number of Business
> Partners who are excited by it, now we'd like to hear from some more of our
> leading users.
> 
> Jon Paris - AS/400 AD Market Support - paris@ca.ibm.com

Jon,

   I see a great reluctance on the part of clients and developers (staff and 
consultants) to use RPG IV. I've conducted training sessions for RPG IV and ILE 
for other consultants in the firm that I work for. I could only get about half 
of them to even show up. Until IS, MIS, IT (or what ever the politically 
correct term is these days) demand that programs be converted and/or written in 
RPG IV, I don't think that the masses will change. Granted, there are more each 
day, but it is still not a majority. I think it's a shame. I detest RPG III 
almost as much as RPG II now. The recent PTF that solved the sequence number 
debacle has removed the one obstacle that I had with RPG IV. I think that the 
Year 2000 issue coupled with the explosion of technology options is much to 
blame for this. An aging RPG developer group is probably in the equation as 
well. These people are willing to live comfortably in the legacy world as long 
as they can. Besides, the web as it is today is not a requirement for everyone 
(some I even agree with). Many companies are using UNIX, NT, etc. for their web 
access because the people on these platforms are more in tune to that world.

   With that said, my focus right now is with LotusNotes & Domino. My firm will 
be getting a new AS/400 in the very near future running V4R2 with Notes 
(native) and Java. The main client that I'm with right now has a perfect use 
for Notes. They need groupware for email and calendaring so that the office 
staff can communicate better with the traveling salespeople. These traveling 
people also need access to pieces of the database on the AS/400. Another 
department needs to track projects that include scanned documents, email, 
forms, pieces of AS/400 data, etc. Since they have a V3R2 CISC machine, I do 
not know how Notes will be implemented. They might upgrade, but it is more 
likely that they will install it on NT or UNIX.

   In summary, the companies that I'm exposed to are NOT using the AS/400 as 
their web server. They are using VB pgms for their client/server applications 
almost exclusively. I have yet to see a department using VA RPG. I'm sure that 
this will change as time goes on. I hear interest about the AS/400 doing Notes 
and Java, I don't hear anything about RPG generating Java.

Joe Teff
QDS
Bloomington, MN
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