RE: Time to get serious

["Goodbar, Loyd (ETS - Water Valley)" <LGoodbar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > There is no reason a modern computer science graduate should know RPG
> > and even less reason they should know *of* RPG. It has no bearing on
> > their most likely employment requirements.
> </snip>
>
> And that's fine with me. That keeps me, someone without a comp sci degree,
> more marketable for when the iSeries 'TAKES OVER THE WORLD' ! ! !

"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but where are we going to find rubber pants our size?"

Seriously, though. Has anyone looked at the RPG book selection available in
a commercial bookseller? RPG II? RPG III? RPG/400? Are you kidding me? I've
seen the SAME EXACT RPG/400 book at the local Barnes and Noble for three
years, steadily getting more ratty and dog-eared! These are books my
coworkers used 15 years ago! Amazon has a selection of RPG/IV, but there's
still a lot of talk of specs and indicators. Where is the "RPG free-form"
book?

Since I'm talking about cutting-edge (ha-ha) RPG, only specs we should talk
about these days are H, F, D, and P; even this is too much. It would be nice
if IBM allowed specs, since I still need them, inside the /free. Where is
the transparent embedded SQL? I don't mind coding /exec-sql, but I hate
breaking out of free form to do so.

RPG has an image problem right now. I've only met two people who have had
any formal RPG training, and that was on RPGII and RPGIII. In our shop I
lead the way with freeform, SQL, BIFs, procedures, service programs, etc.

RPG is a great language for business, but is niche compared to other
general-purpose programming languages. The fact we're having this discussion
says something.

Loyd Goodbar
Senior programmer/analyst
BorgWarner
E/TS Water Valley
662-473-5713