Re: IBM i in the cloud (was social media)

On 11/21/2010 12:49 PM, Mike Pavlak wrote:

Ouch! Interesting observation about VB and PHP being "big losers" in 2010. Any data to back that up? When I check the Tiobe index I can see that you may have a point. VB is tanking and PHP is showing a downward trend. Objective-C is way up while Java and C are flat. But, this is an index that tracks were the mass of programmers are heading and EXCITING technology seems to win here. This index is also showing RPG is on the uptake (woohoo!) http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html But, here is another Tiobe report that shows PHP jobs on the uptick: http://regulargeek.com/2010/01/14/googles-go-and-apple-development-are-gaining-ground/

Well, that is a bit of an older review - at that point Google Go was still a hot up and comer. It already flared out. But really, it certainly is only one viewpoint. I do like the fact that RPG cracked the top 20 for the second time in as many years. Go RPG!

Gartner has some interesting observations about commercial implementations, but most of those reports require a fee.

Alexa shows internet sites by traffic where PHP owns 7 of the top 10. Interesting observations can be made about these statistics. http://www.alexa.com/topsites

Yup, and you can figure out what you want from statistics. One that's usually pretty good is jobs. On Dice.com, there are currently 72 PHP jobs in the Chicago metro area. Java has 575. I guess all those top sites don't need a lot of programmers! Then again, there are only 8 RPG jobs and there aren't ANY jobs for EGL. Statistics!

Oh, and I think each of those devices still supports this crazy thing called a browser? While Objective C and other client based languages may be exciting, the iPhone apps still only run on an iPhone. I say let the people have a choice and if they want an iPhone app then so be it. But if a company needs to write an app to run on all handhelds, a browser based app still rocks regardless of the technology used to deliver it.

Yes indeed, browsers are nice. But then again, are you talking thin client apps or rich client? It's relatively easy to use PHP for a thin client application, not quite so easy to do, say, Dojo. (It can be done, but there's considerably more learning curve than just grabbing something from the Internet.) With EGL, you can do thin and rich with pretty much the same code, and with Java you can do Droid as well. Java and EGL work hand in hand so that seems like one good overall direction for learning.

I love having options and the ability to discuss them in the free world! Woohoo!!!

And since we're right between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, be sure to thank your veterans for that freedom!

Joe