Re: And so it continues...

Joe Pluta wrote:

I never said Open Source is at fault. It's the misconception that Open
Source is somehow free that causes problems. Non-technical C-level
executives get the idea that this stuff can be plucked out of the air (or
more precisely, off the Internet) and slapped onto a cheap server and BOOM
you have an infrastructure. That's of course ridiculous.

Exactly.

I don't understand your dig at EGL, but that's your opinion and I won't
argue with it. I do suggest you read my articles on EGL and see how it can
be used as essentially SDA for the web, with direct calls to an RPG back end
for processing.

No dig. I have read your articles, Bob Cancilla's articles, Bleddyn Williams' articles and pretty much everything available. EGL is being positioned so that C level executives will get the idea that they can get their company on the web with much less training than without EGL. I'm very familiar with code generators; I spent more than 10 years supporting a very large Synon application. I think I come by my opinion of EGL as 'programming for dummies' honestly.

I can use Synon to build a CRUD and an inquiry in somewhat less time than your EGL example took. That's not a dig on EGL nor is it a plug for Synon. It just turns out that code generators are pretty darned good at CRUD and simple inquiries.

I think that the Midrange market in particular needs to spend more time learning and understanding the underlying technology so we can make use of it and less time looking for a silver bullet that will allow us to get on the web without understanding it.

And yes, I understand you are not advocating ignorance of the web. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that the Midrange environment needs to become web savvy, not to use tools that shield us from that. Which is of course an opinion, and as such I'm not disagreeing with you -- I'm just sharing that after a decade of looking at code generated applications, I'm very much convinced that it would have been much better to have been hand coded.
--buck