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Sounds like you have had much more experience bringing RPG folks successfully over to Java than has been my experience. I certainly enjoy moving between the RPG/Java/PHP worlds and you probably won't find a bigger advocate for 21st century skills development in my company, but my experience has been that making that jump is pretty hard for most RPG programmers for the variety of reasons that have been debated on this list.
Pain points? What I meant was that there were still things that cannot be done in RPG when it comes to equivalents to what may be available in a language like Java or PHP. I can see a need for a web services provider for RPG. Maybe a messaging provider that was JMS compliant (perhaps there is such a thing). As I try stuff in RPG I find that I need something that is available already in Java. So I either wrap a Java class or just write it in Java. I am OK with that, but some folks would be stuck, so that can cause some "pain".
And, when I talk about these thing I guess I am reflecting on what would allow an RPG programmer to stay in the "comfort zone" but still be able to write applications that are equivalent to enterprise web applications in the Java world. Why would that even be necessary, especially when so many open source and commercial applications already exist that fill that need? Well, the Java/PHP worlds clearly overlap on tools and API's. There are PHP programmers who want to write only in PHP and thus create functional analogs to existing Java tools and apps. There are Java programmers who only want to write in Java and thus will write Java tools and apps even though they exist in the PHP, C or other programming worlds. You can see that duplication in C++, Perl and in dozens of other languages. I don't see why RPG should be excluded from that "club". If there are folks who want to build RPG tools and apps, even though those tools and applications may exist in another language, then more power to them. It is not inconsistent with other languages in the marketplace.
Me, I would rather make the "small investment" of learning something new, but not everyone has the inclination, the time or the freedom.
Pete Joe Pluta wrote:
From: Pete Helgren I wasn't aware that "JSPs eventually compile down to machine code." I assumed that JSP compiled to servlets which ran in a JVM which meant it was still "interpreted" to some extent.Do a little Googling on "Hot Spot Compiler" or "JIT Compiler". It's pretty cool stuff, and a great reason why certain logic, especially stable code that gets used over and over (I call these static solution sets), really are well suited for Java.Agreed that Java has many more tools and ready made API's. But, I wouldn't use that as the sole rationale for not developing RPG equivalents.It seems easier to learn to use a couple of APIs rather than spend the money to reinvent the wheel. That's almost like rewriting OS/400 system APIs because the API interface is complex.There are some "pain points" that I think could be addressed in RPG that would encourage more application modernization and would give RPG programmers a more comfortable environment to grow from.I'm not sure what this paragraph means. Could you give me an example?Not everyone enjoys jumping into Java, PHP, and other non-RPG web technologies. The success of the System i platform, is, to some extent, still tied to RPG programmers so I'll continue to pursue tools that pull them into the 21st century.The success of the IBM midrange is completely tied to its ability to integrate many different technologies. RPG is one, and happens to be my favorite language. At the same time, by making a small investment in learning a simple Java framework, you can make your RPG programmers much more productive. They never have to worry about the UI at all; instead, they just write business logic. Really, there are very few situations anymore where you can justify an RPG-CGI approach. A small one- or two-person shop with zero training budget is probably one such place; few others come to mind. If your IT shop doesn't have the skill set to learn the 1000 or lines of Java required to create a web application environment, I can't see how you can possibly have the skill set to rewrite something like SOAP in RPG. It's just not possible. Joe
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