Nathan,
Yes, RPG has it's place in the old programming languages home. While it was the first language I learned and I spend some time working in it, it's just esoteric in the IT world and therefore not embraced nor taught in any non-i5 shop or school to speak of and the folks that are looking for systems to build there business for the future say why should I invest in such an esoteric thing and platform which means they won't spend there money on same, which means, RPG will help bring down the platform that supports it, which means the i5 will be replaced by something that is mainstream...and its happening now. So, I say, in order to breathe life in a platform that's in a downward spiral, however slow, i5 folks should starting using mainstream methodologies, languages, etc., and move away from the albatross that makes the platform so "out there" when compared to other platforms.
Wow, you must know some smart knowledge workers then or those with lots of time on their hands if they would even consider using RPG to create reports. I know of NO business power users, in all the companies, large and small, I've worke for, that want to learn a programming language to get their reports if they can get them through a good, easy to use, robust query and reporting tool or a good decision support/BI tool.
Dave
Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 5/15/2008 09:20 >>>
Dave,
RPG generated stream files have a role in many contexts in addition to
OLTP and production applications. It's more efficient for a Web browser
to download a static, or semi-static HTML file from a Web site than to
dynamically generate HTML from CGI, PHP, or J2EE procedures.
Midrange.com archives are a good example of static HTML files that are
periodically refreshed by batch procedures. BLOGS and store product
catalogs are often handled similarly.
You make a good point about "knowledge workers/power users". These
people are generally the owners/stewards of data, the most vested in it,
and will not wait for an IT programmer to write reports for them.
They'll teach themselves "how to fish" with reporting tools if the IT
department is a bottleneck. Perhaps ironically, I began my professional
career in that kind of position and gradually extended my skills to
database maintenance and OLTP applications. While you may have a
callous distain for RPG, using RPG for report generation is NOT much of
a stretch for many "knowledge workers".
midrange.com
