Re: Programming tools (was DDS Support) -- MIDRANGE-L

Booth Martin wrote:

>This may seem petty but so what, never 
>stopped me before. 

Not at all brother!

>Your comparisons to tools for other platforms 
>doesn't translate well to the AS/440 for some reason.   
>PC tools are usually under $100, automatic 
>to install, intuitive to set up, and productive to the 
>user in 15 minutes or less. 

Does the PC world have cheaper tools?  Absolutely!  This is exactly my
point: Because everybody on the PC platform expects and demands tools, they
are widely available and affordable.  However, I'd quibble about the
details.  Any industrial strength Wintel PC tools I've used ("Enterprise
edition") are pricey, difficult to install, require careful study before use
and have the added Wintel "feature" of putting me in DLL hell.  For an
example, try to install MS Visual C++, MS Visual Basic, IBM Visual Age for
Java and PVCS on the same PC.  If you figure out how to do it, let me know.
:-)

>On the other hand, AS/400 tools require management 
>review and approval,  budget line items, training 
>sessions, often there are needed PTFs, and a 
>library has to be placed on the AS/400 which may 
>compromise security. 

The AS/400 is a different beast indeed.  Not only does it host the
developers, it hosts the QA people, the "what if" people, the day to day
production, but it's expected to do so without any attention from a
sysadmin.  The PC folks get one PC for development, one PC for QA... you get
the idea.

>Code/400 is a bear to install and use.  Hawkeye (a great 
>tool imho) is $2500 and requires the company to send 
>a high-skill employee to school for a week.

Code/400 is a PC product, not an AS/400 product.  :-)  Using it is easy
enough, but installation is pretty much the same as any PC product.  Ick.
As for Pathfinder, any complex package will take time to learn, on any
platform.  Take MS Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise edition at US$1379 for
example.  More close to home, I can't even get half the features of Outlook
to work for me without buying a book on it (but that could be just me!)  :-)

>There is just no comparison between the PC work 
>world and the AS/400 work world.  I sure wish there was.

That's my point, at least when it comes to programmer productivity tools.  I
would love to see a reasonable set of programmer tools widely available for
the 400, but there's just too much resistance from the rank and file
programmers.

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"We are what we repeatedly do.
 Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." --Aristotle


Billing Concepts Corp., a NASDAQ Listed Company, Symbol: BILL
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