RE: field initializtion

MODERATOR NOTE
--------------

My vision for this list was a way for people to share ideas on using Java as a 
component of creating applications for the AS/400, not comparing the merits of 
RPG and Java.  I also didn't intend it as a Java 101 tutorial, which is what 
it's degraded to of late, with questions being asked that really have little or 
nothing to do with writing Java applications.

The questions asked here about initializing variables and returning null are 
actually pretty silly.  They're equivalent to asking which indicator to use for 
SFLCLR - the answer is whatever is best for your application.  That's my 
opinion, and I've coded tens of thousands of lines of Java code.  If you'd like 
to see how things are done, download the Sun source code and see how they do 
things.  Or download the IBM toolbox.  Read some books, do some programming.  
Follow their lead or go your own way.  Make mistakes, live a little.

No, this list was going to be how to actually write working applications for 
the AS/400 taking advantage of things like WebSphere and servlets and 
JavaServer Pages.  It was not meant to teach how to write trivial classes or to 
compare the speed of RPG-CGI with JSP and servlets.  Over the past couple of 
months, the character of the list has changed to what is often little more than 
a tutorial on basic Java, continuously punctuated by "That's not what *I* 
heard", or "Yeah, but I could do it THIS way in RPG."

So be it.  Those of you who want to find out about Java from an RPG 
programmer's perspective are welcome to have your day.  The truth is that Java 
isn't anything like RPG, and never will be.  If you're a good RPG programmer, 
that's absolutely no assurance that you'll be a good Java programmer.  Good 
Java is harder to write than good RPG.


Aaron wrote:
"Most of the time all I hear from this list is high-level garble about morphing 
or encapsulation or what not.  I like it when the list gets its hands dirty and 
figures out code."

"[Brad] has been asking a lot of questions so the RPG world can find out if 
Java is a good investment."


For anybody who thinks polymorphism is garble, then I can answer that question 
without all the wasted time: Java is not a good investment for you.  Period.  
Stick with RPG.  It makes no sense to learn Java without learning OO.

Polymorphism, inheritance and encapsulation are what Java is all about.  If you 
don't learn those, then Java is a waste of your time.  Getting your "hands 
dirty" without at least a basic understanding of those crucial points leads to 
bad code and bad habits.  If you're not trying from the get-go to learn proper 
OO techniques, then your time is wasted with Java.  It's slow, cumbersome and 
syntactically challenging for RPG programmers who just want to write procedural 
code.

If, on the other hand, you want to learn how to create object-oriented systems 
that promote reuse and scalability and offloading and the flexibility to meet 
changing application demands, then by all means learn OO, then learn Java.

>From now on, I'll not respond to the Java 101 questions or the RPG 
>comparisons.  Others can carry that ball.  If someone needs help with 
>WebSphere, or OO, or architectures, I'll chime in.  I apologize for trying to 
>keep a vision for this list, and perhaps taking it and myself a little too 
>seriously.

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END MODERATOR NOTE
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