Re: power line (AS/400) article in computerworld

[James Lampert <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lukas Beeler wrote:
> And then, instead of moving forward using proper technologies (that 
> are available on the IBM i!) like Java to interoperate with Web 
> Services, they stay with crude hacks like HTTP API . . .

I get the feeling that Scott Klement might have something to say about
your calling HTTPAPI a "crude hack." In fact, I know HTTPAPI (albeit not
nearly so well as I'd like to), and I know crude hacks (far too well, in
fact), and they have nothing in common with each other. And as to Java
on the 400, well, at one point, we were shipping product that used a
call to a server-side Java program for server-initiated email, and both
performance and reliability were terrible. We switched to an MSF-based
strategy, and it's a vast improvement.

> and handwritten XML readers (that are nowhere near a proper XML
> interpreter).

Don't talk to me about "handwritten XML readers"! I've had to write one. 
Maybe if people who don't understand the fundamental difference between 
a markup language and a procedural language didn't keep treating XML as 
a <obscenity> panacea, there wouldn't be a NEED for such <blasphemy> 
kludgery!