Re: Have you read this?

Dean wrote:
>In a message dated 1/10/00 12:15:00 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>Don.Schenck@WL.com writes:
>
>> "Disgusting and cowardly"?
>>
>>  I find it hilarious. And quite possibly RIGHT ON.
><<snip>>
>
>Me too but, since we're talking about a _REAL_ machine, couldn't
>the _REAL_ man's name be used?

Look at the bottom of the article.  Do you not see a real name
there?  Do you not see the text "humor column" at the top of the
page?  (Actually, I missed the title "humor column" when I first
read the page, but considering the content and tone of the
article, was it really necessary to flag it as such?)

You know, there's nothing like a religious debate, especially
over choice of programming language.  In this discussion, I have
to side with those who say that the AS/400 cannot be sold solely
on the strengths of RPG.  Look, these days, what's hot is the
internet.  For the AS/400 to be successful in today's market,
it has to be successful at providing web-based solutions.  The
languages of choice in that arena are Perl and Java.

We're not letting RPG slide, though.  As many people here know,
we've got some real kick-ass stuff in the works, with a few
extras thrown in we haven't talked about here yet.  Will these
help RPG compete with Java and Perl?  Don't know.

Here's one final thought in this note.  Do you know how Perl got
to be so good?  Contributions from it's users.  There are a
number of packages freely available (open source) that make it
much easier to develop CGI apps.  These were all written and
maintained by users.  This is not the first or last time I say
this, but if you want RPG to succeed, RPG fans need to adopt the
tactics of the open-source movement.  There's no reason why you
can't develop good open-source packages to make CGI apps easier
in RPG.  Just learn how to use procedures and service programs.

Cheers!  Hans

Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com


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