Domino to AS/400 Socket programs

First a little background.
I have taken the Domino Designer Fundamentals class but I am not considered
a Notes developer here at work, I am an AS/400 RPG guy.  I do write Notes
apps to test my stored procedures before telling the Notes developers they
are ready for use.
I am not satisfied with the performance of the stored procedures, although
it is quicker than using the LEI solution that was originally in use, and
want to know if anyone has some examples of using the Windows Socket API's
from Lotusscript they could share with me, and others reading this, so I
can experiment and see if a socket solution will be quicker than the stored
procedures.
I have been playing with VB to AS/400 sockets but haven't quite figured out
how to implement it in Lotusscript.
I know it can be done with Java but I am not a Java developer and do not
know how to implement Java into a Notes app but if provided instructions
could most likely get it to work. I am scheduled to take the "Java for RPG
Programmers" class at IBM in November.

Thank you!