Re: RPG Education. -- RPG400-L

Mike,

I have no experience with the classes mentioned below. I checked theweb site referenced in an earlier email and they all appear to be"classroom" setting as opposed to "self-paced". The last time I took anIBM course it was the latter. There are advantages both ways: I likehaving someone of whom I can ask questions; self-paced is usuallycheaper. I initially learned RPG II at IBM PI classes, and they werepretty good. Things didn't really start to sink in, though, until I hada chance to actually code real programs ("Subroutines? We don't need nostinking subroutines!")

I would, as a past corporate instructor of RPG (in an earlier life),make some general recommendations. Don't try to take one course rightafter the other. Learn the principles of RPG IV; use them in realsettings. Then progress to the next step. Jon and Bob, who stillactually give classes in RPG, may have a different perspective on that,and if your company was paying one of them to come on-site, pushingeverything into 2-5 days would probably be the most feasible way to go.But my brain gets overloaded after five days at COMMON (probably apersonal issue, though).

It's hard to say from just the descriptions what the steps should be,but here's a guess.

Arrays and data structures are pretty fundamental to RPG.Subfiles are a bit more advanced, but still fundamental.ILE concepts (subprocedures, service programs, and prototyping) arestill more advanced. You may even find (as I have) that you want to goback and re-write some of the earlier programs to gain some benefits.

I'm a little puzzled about why there would be three classes on dates.Most of the books you already mentioned, plus the RPG Reference manual,cover date data types pretty well.

After all of that, if the course listings indicate specificprerequisites, use it. IBM has professional instructors design andteach their classes; if they specified that Class A is a prerequisitefor Class B, believe 'em.



        * Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
B&W Wholesale Distributors, Inc.* *
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Mike Troxclaire wrote:

Great, I would love to get my hands on Bob's book as soon as it isout. I have been communicating with IBM also and I think they have apretty decent course which meets my requirements very closely...
# Use OVERLAY and related Data Description Specifications (DDS)keywords to
develop efficient interactive programs
# Write interactive programs that support inquiry of subfiles
# Write interactive programs that support maintenance of subfile records
# Use arrays and data structures in RPG IV programs
# Develop RPG IV programs that anticipate and manage common errors and
exceptions
# Define date and time data
# Calculate durations between two dates
# Extract month, day or year components of date data
# Use prototyping to Call other programs
# Write RPG IV subprocedures
# Write Integrated Language Envoirnment (ILE) modules and include those
modules in program objects using bind by copy and bind by reference
I am really looking at the above course. Does anybody have any idea asto how fruitful these courses are? I have never attended coursestaught by IBM but attended several conferences and I think thespeakers are very well versed with the subject matter but it could bea totally different story with the instructors. Any advice on thiswill be greatly appreciated.
cheers,

Mike.

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