Re: Legacy code. Was:Dates

[Tim_Lennon/Thomas_Miller_at_MUTUAL@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Booth,

>>Stuck in the 1970s?  errrr.....  That was a long time ago.  The
AS/400 is not a 1970s machine, nor is it's operating system.   If you
really are talking about the RPG cycle, you should study what it does
for you and for your structure.  btw, a real nice benefit of the
AS/400 is that it runs more than RPG.  It'll do FORTRAN, COBOL, RPG,
and C++, so you get a system that can deal with you on your own level
of comfort.  (I'm not sure of the status of C++ but if its not
publicly here yet, it can't be far away.)

>We're never going to move the AS/400 up as a serious NT kicker while
>we're stuck in the 1970s.

My original understanding was that the AS/400 is still capable of
running applications and software developed on some long distant
predecessors.

I am aware of benefits to using the cycle, but I am also aware of a
recent book on performance from Duke Press (I think) which appeared to
imply that most of the time there is no benefit to using the cycle
performance-wise. It takes a fair bit of experience to be able to look
at a cycle program and understand quickly what it is doing, and quite
frankly I have enough fun trying to keep up with ILE and all the other
enhancments which keep coming my way, without looking at a programming
model (i.e. the cycle) which probably hasn't been used in anger for
five years...

On the OS front, my current understanding from News/400 is that with
the ability to plug PC peripherals into the /400 makes OS/400 an OS
which could soon be effectively available on a PC platform.

(Trip over safety barrier on way down from soapbox)

Tim Lennon.
Thomas Miller & Co.
Tim.Lennon@ThomasMiller.com

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