RE: RPG TALENT--Global issue -- MIDRANGE-L

When I went to school, I transferred to a 2 year college after 2.5 years
of ModulaII, Pascal, C and Ada at a 4 year college.  I had never heard
of the AS/400 or RPG, but I saw they were on my curriculum.

Naturally, I liked the COBOL classes better than the RPG classes simply
because they were on an operating system that I was familiar with.

It was not until I finished my internship (using RPG) and returned for
my final semester of RPG, COBOL, and a C++ class, did I really
understand the AS/400 and it's functionality.

I guess in this sense, I lucked out that the 2 year school I attended
required 2 semesters of RPG and an Internship.

Bradley V. Stone        
bvstone@taylorcorp.com
http://prairie.lakes.com/~bvstone/
"This is not a reasonable place to park?"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric [SMTP:Eric@norcov.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 1998 1:57 PM
> To:   'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'
> Subject:      RE: RPG TALENT--Global issue
> 
> Perhaps but that was not the case here in Northern California.  There
> used 
> to be 3 AS/400 classes offered at our local community college.  They
> were 
> Operations, RPG I and RPG II.  Due to a lack in interest, after two 
> semesters the Operations class was dropped and the RPG I and RPG II
> classes 
> were combined.  The program was eliminated on the fourth semester.
>       The AS/400 classes failed for a couple of reasons.  One, most of
> the 
> students had never heard of the AS/400, much less RPG, so they took
> the 
> microcomputer route and two, those students (who had no previous
> midrange 
> experience) who braved the RPG classes failed.  Why did they fail?
> Those 
> with C++ backgrounds were completely confused (where are the
> pointers?) and 
> those with no experience were lost because the class did not include
> an 
> introduction to the AS/400, its terminology, or its core toolset
> because of 
> time limitations.  Obviously the classes failed at conception but if 
> students were not willing to jump in the programming courses, I wonder
> if 
> they would be willing to go into AS/400 101.  Given the impatience of 
> youth, I doubt that students are will to learn CL, take 2 RPG courses 
> (basic and advanced), and DDS.  It is substantially simpler for them
> to 
> learn C given that they probably already know how to work a
> minicomputer 
> and they know DOS.  They take one C class or three AS/400 classes in
> order 
> to produce anything. Which would you take?
> 
> AS/400 - dead by 2010?
> My two cents.         
> 
> Eric Kempter
> Director of MIS
> Commair Mechanical Services
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick Baird [SMTP:rbbaird@Premsys.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 1998 8:11 AM
> To:   MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      RPG TALENT--Global issue
> 
> All,
> 
> The local city college (indianapolis univ) has been teaching RPG for a
> few 
> years now.  I know because one of our project managers
> teaches the classes.
> 
> It only takes about 10 hours a week of her time, and as an added
> bonus, we 
> have the chance to hire the best students.
> 
> My guess is the reason colleges don't teach it more could have as much
> to 
> do with the lack of instructors as hardware.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Rick
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