RE: Survey for AS/400 Developers (ISERIES) DB2/400RE: MIDRANGE-L Digest V3 #831

David Dunfield wrote:

>That is not the issue. The issue is Native 
>RPG (and COBOL) access should be
>maintained! 

Why?  

It is EXTREMELY unlikely that the companies that are averse to using SQL
will ever want (for example) to manipulate BLOBS in native RPG.  They will
never find a need to add "advanced function" to their files.  They won't be
buying Package X from a vendor and then try to manipulate those files
themselves, because they're too cheap to buy the SQL precompiler, much less
a package.  The fact that these companies can't get at advanced DB function
without SQL simply is a non-issue for them.  Many of them have yet to
discover OPNQRYF, much less DATE fields.

I can't come up with a real-world scenario where SQL-only access to advanced
function files is a problem except: SQL development kit not on the box.
Frankly, there just aren't that many advanced functions that are worth
adding to a legacy database.  I will be very happy to change my (very
preliminary) opinion, but I just don't see the problem yet.

>I have coded SQL RPG also and there are 
>times when it has made my life easier, 
>but I have many clients that object to the 
>use of SQLRPG. THE CLIENT IS ALWAYS 
>RIGHT!

The client is always right about their business.  They are most certainly
NOT always right about programming.  If they were, why would they need me?
If the client can't afford to buy SQL, what can they afford?

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"Nothing is so firmly believed as
 that which we least know" -- Michel Montaigne
Visit the Midrange archives at http://www.midrange.com


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