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Hi Henrik,

<snip>
What I am referring to is the lack of collaboration between various Open

Source projects on IBM I and also the lack of collaboration between smaller

ISV’s in general.



When I see how my Core API is meet (my core API just extends CGIDEV2 with

about 80-90 new subprocedures that may overlap even your XMLi) in the IBM I

community nobody of the “Kings of other projects” even bother to download

and try it – because “Think” if there were some areas where it worked

smarter, better or faster. So it is safer to write “I don’t know it”

signaling – “I don’t bother at all”.
</snip>

That is interesting. I hadn't really seen your Core API "out there" but you mentioning it in a post in another thread sparked me to start this thread. I will be downloading it to have a look, just like I have used LLIST, HTTPAPI, FTPAPI, RPG NextGen, XMLSERVICE, etc...

I'm sure there is overlap between our work and that is what I would like to avoid (if at all possible). I'd rather build something that can work with (or upon) another open source product than build a competitor. My project has evolved. It started out as simply building templates to build XML - the XML in the template was essentially the XML you got back, but the template filled the gaps for you as it ran. The templates were very functional - using SQL, CL commands, etc. Then I added the ability to add extensions to the language using SRVPGMs and conditional statements (IF, WHILE, etc), and variables, and scripts... That blew it open, and it was easy to build the MMAIL and CGI extensions. XMLi templates essentially became scripts that could be run. Many didn't even generate XML. The template was run for what it could call/process. It was never my intention to build a server-side scripting language. It is just evolving that way. Running it in a HTTP server is only one of the things you can do with it. I had always used it more for client code - sending a XML request via HTTPAPI. Or to generate XML spreadsheets.


As for collaboration within the RPG community:

I think some of the hurdles to successfully collaborating are:
1) The size of our community
- My name is not Legion, for we are few
2) The reasons why we develop open source code
- I write the code as a hobby. I'm not saying the code is not "good", but rather that I do it as a mental puzzle. A crossword, a jigsaw, a cathedral of matchsticks. I "enjoy" it. I am not changing the world. I am writing code that is functional and easy to use and I offer it to others for free.
3) Licensing issues
- I provide my code with the LGPL license, which is allows users to run their business on it, or put it in vendor code and sell their code if they want. Using other open source code means checking their license to ensure it is not more restrictive than mine. I'm not a lawyer, so that isn't so simple.
4) Ego
- Nothing to say on that, but I'm sure we all have one :-)
5) Direction
- A successful collaboration needs a definite philosophy of purpose and a clear goal in mind. It also needs to be lead. This is not easy when the collaborators are the owners of their own work and are trying to merge disparate code bases / paradigms - see Ego above :-)


<snip>
It seems to me, that there is a mental fatigue in the brains of RPG

programmers, maybe created by the long psychological server trench warfare

between MS and IBM “as a platform” that actually doesn’t exist anymore or

maybe created by the fact, that we are in a middle of a generation and

paradigm shift from where “one programmer can do and should know it all” to

a more “collaborative” paradigm based on loosely and task specific connected

teams where “normal” boundaries like “organization, country etc.” doesn’t

exists.
</snip>

I think we talk ourselves down too much. RPG is an awesome language and
the code we all develop is collectively making our businesses Billions (if not Trillions) of dollars
each year.



Having said that, I agree that RPG developers were for a long time nestled in the cosy world of QSYS.LIB. Suddenly discovering that it is just a File System, and even worse - only one of many in an Integrated File System - was a big shock for many. But in a networked environment we couldn't stay there any more. We needed to venture out.

I remember first discovering the IFS and the world of Unix. It was very weird for a while there. The effect was not too disimilar to a certain Neo getting pulled out of the Matrix and realizing he was living in a bubble all that time. :-) (I prefer that analogy to the Trueman show for obvious reasons)

Some make the transition to a new paradigm, some don't. It isn't an intelligence or age thing. it is simply a "World View" thing. Einstein couldn't accept the inherent uncertainty in Quantum Mechanics. Even though his work on the Photo-Electric Effect (which won him his only Nobel Prize) helped start it all off. His world was shaken to the core. For all his work on Relativity Theory and his destruction of Newtonian Physics he was a Classical Physicist at heart.

The same is true for a lot of RPG developers. They can spin the most beautiful weaves in the land of QSYS.LIB and they are happy to stay there. Good luck to them. Einstein never left Classical Physics and look what he did!

<snip>
And changing them from an YP to an YIP is the actual challenge IBM is facing

if they want to keep up on IBM I as a platform – not trying to learn 50+

programmers new tricks and to create astonishing new apps – WE are just to

old! (Most of us ;-) )
</snip>

The challenge is one I live with. How to make RPG sexy to a new Graduate Intake. Its hard, but easier than you think. You just need to teach them ILE and ensure they often venture out of QSYS.LIB. Having a teacher that thoroughly enjoys ILE and RPG helps though. ;-)

Cheers

Larry Ducie



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