RE: Future of AS/400 ??????????????:(:

Brad Stone wrote:

>--snip--
>
>> RPG is not
>> the language of choice for creating web pages or generating 
>> HTML - CGI,
>> Perl, and Java are much more common.
>
>Says you.

I've never ever seen a help wanted ad "Wanted: Web Developer.  Must be
fluent in RPG."  That is sad reality.

>The AS/400 is a good machine.  RPG is a good language.  

I would bet that everybody on the list agrees with this!

>We can Read PC week
>and regurgitate all the hype but when it comes down to it if you haven't
>used Java or XML, don't tout it's strengths.  Likewise don't say RPG can't
>do what Perl of Java can because it can, and MUCH easier.  Try file access
>for starters.  And with free format RPG coming out, there should be NO
>excuses.  

Brad, it has nothing to do (sadly) with ability - look at Beta vs. VHS etc.
It has to do with what the market desires.  RPG can't do one huge thing that
Perl and Java can both do: run on cheap PC hardware.  It's that simple.
Until you and I and the rest of the folks on the list CREATE a market for
Web-RPG programmers, there will simply be no market for e-RPG.  But
eventually, when the slow adopters we (the midrange market) work for decide
to webify their business if we have Web skills, we'll probably put the 400
on the Web.  If we don't then a consultant will put in an Apache server and
that will be that.

Your fervour is welcome in a quiet little corner of the programming world.
Keep pushing Web skills in the RPG programming profession - it is the right
way to go.

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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