RE: Aaron Bartell's RPG/Java comparison

Joe,

First you said...

> RPG's biggest benefit, in my opinion, is its designed 
> interaction with the
> database...
> 
> This is especially true in environments where processing is 
> controlled by
> flags or switches in the database, which is the standard for 
> most of our
> business applications today. 

Then you said...

> On the other hand, presentation of data is now, in my mind, purely the
> province of object-oriented programming.  The ability to design
> self-modifying widgets which change their appearance 
> programmatically makes
> object-oriented techniques simply indispensible in today's worked of
> ever-changing UI requirements.

Isn't the ability to change presentation really something that flags or
switches is good for?  Object oriented programming has nothing to do with
flags and switches and controlling the presentation.

One of the reasons I'm playing with servlets now is to try and duplicate an
application (or part of an application) I wrote in RPG for displaying
customer service data on the web.  The presentation is completly controlled
by the URL and at a lower level the account number signed on with.  In other
words, the same program will look like an office depot site for office
depot, and it will look like Kmart for Kmart.  All by the URL and a few
"flags and switches".  At the account level, each account has the ability to
control what data is displayed, in what order, if the particular column is
sortable and/or searchable, and what the heading of each column is.  (hard
to explain, there's a TON to it).  

It's a total of 4 RPG programs (no more than a couple hundred lines average)
and a few service programs (I consider service programs similar to Java APIs
since no one has given the RPGers all the neat little tools, we have to
write them ourselves).  Rewriting this in Java is possible, but I'm not sure
it will be easier just because it always comes back to DB interface.  RPG
does it so much easier.   

Writing standard output is the same, reading env. vars and standard input
isn't much different (again given you write your own wrappers).  And
"seperating business logic from processing layer" is 99% buzzword.  I've
done it with my app as much as you can with any Java App.

I am liking Java, but so far I'm having a hard time saying anything is
better than anything.  There is no best.  There is only good enough.

Here's a neat quote I found in the C++ usenet newgroup.  (seems to be their
motto)

Java isn't platform independant, it is a platform.

:)

Brad (not dissing java, just telling it like I see it)
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