RE: framework question -- JAVA400-L

> From: Dieter Bender
> >
> > I would never use EJBs, except for... well for anything, really.
There
> > isn't a single iSeries industry expert that I know of who still
promotes
> > EJB.
> 
> Joe, do you remember me?, so I'm no iSeries industrial expert in your
> opinion??? Do you really think you are the one and only expert???

I am certainly not the only expert, Dieter, but all the people who have
published books or columns in the iSeries community agree with me.  As
to your credentials, Dieter, in every one of our discussions you've made
lots of unusual claims and never proven one.  Your positions are so
different from those of the iSeries community that I have a problem
considering you as an iSeries developer.  You're more of a Java
developer who happens to use the iSeries.

For example, you recommend that nobody ever call RPG from Java.  You in
fact recommend a Java only solution, with no RPG at all.  That's
probably the worst recommendation you can make, and it's potentially
crippling to an SMB with heavy investment in RPG skills, which happens
to be the vast majority of iSeries shops.

But even were we to forget about that and assume that you are qualified
as an industry expert in iSeries development, that still only makes ONE
iSeries developer who believes in EJB.  So I'm pretty comfortable with
my position that EJB, especially using container managed persistence
(CMP), is inefficient code that has no place in business application
development.


> The main things are scalability and better separation of business
layer
> and controller;

This is silly.  You can have great separation in RPG, and many of us
have proven it over the years.  It's a matter of design.  I design
three-tiered systems all the time, with a servlet/JSP presentation tier
and an RPG back end.  As to scalability, there aren't any machines out
there that scale better than the iSeries.  Please explain how EJB helps
scalability, and skip the buzzwords: provide a concrete example.


> I've made some reviews of projects in
> the last three years and the projects not using ejbs had more problems
> with
> business code in the controller (especially using STRUTS, thats one of
the
> weak points).

Well, I don't use Struts, and I separate the application control from
the presentation logic.  In fact, in one model (server/client) I write
the application controller in RPG.  It's extremely fast and allows for
incredibly flexible development.

And not a single EJB in sight!


> > Start with this: in order to use EJB you must journal all your
files.
> 
> Joe, more then 10 years ago we journaled all files in an environment
> without
> any java programms, totally rpg without commit, we've journaled all
files,
> for recovery after program faults and for problem detection, whats
wrong
> with journaling???

Journaling is unnecessary overhead.  The fact that you even ask
indicates that your client base and mine are different.  I would venture
to say that the majority of iSeries shops do not use journaling.

Joe