Re: EGL vs. Java

Pete Helgren wrote:

I keep trying to think of THE thing that will jumpstart this amazing platform. Wish we had the magic bullet. Instead, we'll just have to keep plugging ahead even though it seems an uphill battle some days.

There's really only one magic bullet in the i5/OS holster, and that's the incredible performance. Unfortunately, you can no longer measure performance with green screens; the perception of "old" is so ingrained, and frankly nobody who grew up with the Internet can use a green screen anymore anyway.

But the good news is that, written properly, web applications on the System i are as fast as green screens. I've got browser-based applications flipping pages quicker than the eye can see without making the server break a sweat. So the trick is, how fast can you create these applications. The problem up until now was the learning curve of Java vs. the lack of tools support for CGI. Both of those are gone with EGL.

Not only that, but once you get the writing RPG business logic that can attach to front ends (hopefully via RESTful services, although stored procedures are a reasonable second choice), then you can use the tooling to leapfrog everyone and go straight to Web 2.0, using mashups and external widgets like Google Maps.

I'm serious when I say that the future of the System i is as a the business logic blade in a multi-tiered application environment. Measured in "AOPs" (application operations) per dollar, you'll never find a better system.

Joe