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

Scott:

I have this huge book on CGI programming where most of the examples given
are in Perl.  If my memory is serving me today, the CGI spec uses mostly C
semantics.  I was attempting to use CGI as a blanket for those languages
behind the interface (mostly C-based in my opinion).  If I understand
correctly, CGI and Java are the two principle techniques used to generate
HTML on servers as opposed to techniques that use javascript or Java on the
workstation to create a dynamic view of content.

RPG would be a better CGI back-end in a shop where the programmers were
experienced in RPG.  In my opinion, the general statement should be that the
appropriate language is the one that most available programmers know pretty
well.  Failing that, the language used should resemble a language known by
most programmers.  These guidelines insure a large (and therefore
inexpensive) pool of competent people to develop the product now and to fix
or enhance the product later.  By the same reasoning, it would seem to be a
bad idea to select a language known only by the development managers in the
project.  They cost more, there are fewer of them, if they start programming
then they must ignore their real job, and the business receives no leverage
from the cheaper more plentiful programmers right out of school.

I assert that most people entering the business do not know RPG or any of
its parents or siblings.  I am not aware that RPG has any children.  Most
people entering the business know C.  Perl is a child of C.

>Who ARE all these people who use Java for all these things?  Every other
>message on an AS/400 forum talks about how Java is taking over and
>everyone is switching to it.

A good friend of mine recently spent several months working with a few dozen
other developers creating a large web site using Java (and some other tools)
to generate HTML and provide a significant amount of content.  This lived on
a (small) pile of 4-way Unix boxes - Suns or HPs, I don't recall right at
the moment.

Go look at job adds for the skills required by people developing large web
sites.  I do not recall ever seeing an add for a web site developer with RPG
skills.

>I know IBM's burger flipping ad from a few years ago pissed off a lot of
>RPG programmers -- but isn't it time to stop overreacting to it, yet?

I never saw or heard about this ad.  It is a mistake to think that I did.  I
am neither reacting nor overreacting to that ad.


Richard Jackson
(speaking only for myself)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com [mailto:owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com]On
Behalf Of Scott Klement
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 6:02 PM
To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
Subject: RE: Future of AS/400 ??????????????:(:




On Tue, 16 Jan 2001, Richard Jackson wrote:

> Appearently I was not clear.  Based on personal experience, it is my
opinion
> that AS/400 is not a major player as a web server or, more specifically,
as
> a server generating or delivering HTML or running server-side scripts
> triggered by web-based applications.  Based on personal experience, it is
my
> opinion that C is the root of all the languages used for web application
> programming (whether they are CGI, Java, or anything else).
>

You keep referring to "CGI" as a language for web application programming
(or, at least, this is the 2nd time I've seen it from you)

CGI is not a language.  Its an interface for a web server to call a
program and pass data to that program, and get data back.  It stands for
"Common Gateway Interface".

Or are you talking about something else?

Anyway, most CGI scripts on UNIX machines are written in Perl or C.  The
UNIX programmer is used to writing in C, much like we are used to RPG.
UNIX still dominates the web server market.

Perl is a good choice for CGI.  Its an excellent language for
parsing/manipulating strings.  It doesn't have the buffer-overflow
security risks that C does.  You don't have to compile it (which is a huge
issue if you're using a 3rd-party ISP to host your web pages, since you
don't need telnet access and the security issues associated with telnet)

If you're running your own web server on an AS/400, RPG would be a better
solution than either, IMHO, because of the tight integration with
database functions and the fact that most AS/400 shops already have RPG
programmers.


> Continuing in my effort to be clear, I am not opposed to RPG in these
roles
> nor do I assert that RPG cannot do well in these roles.  Based on personal
> experience, it is my opinion that C, Java, etc are the current winners.  I
> will advise customers and make personal training and career decisions
based
> on that opinion.

Who ARE all these people who use Java for all these things?  Every other
message on an AS/400 forum talks about how Java is taking over and
everyone is switching to it.   I've noticed two things:  1) PC & UNIX
people stopped talking about Java 3 years ago.  Only AS/400 people still
babble about it.  2) I've never seen a significant piece of software
written in Java.

I know IBM's burger flipping ad from a few years ago pissed off a lot of
RPG programmers -- but isn't it time to stop overreacting to it, yet?



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