Re: [PCTECH] Anyone recommend a good book for learning python? (probably on windows)

John,

Not to be flippant about this stuff because we know many in this boat. However first off nothing *I* can do about it nor IBM either. If the company you are working at/with doesn't see the value in the newer systems they are hurting only themselves. Yes I understand many have software issues to solve but putting those off is more expensive than they think.

Personally I think it's only going to get worse! With the cipher changes Rob mentioned in another thread it won't be long before some of those old releases won't work for ANYTHING accessed by a current browser! So the amount of staff effort required to support the old systems will escalate until it becomes unnafordium.

We cut a customer over Saturday from an i810 and a Power5 to a Power8. From V5R4 and i 6.1 to i 7.2. Suddenly browsers work, WAS Starts in minutes not hours, Domino slaps you across the face, and their website refreshes are so fast they don't appear to change! They have spent, conservatively, a quarter million dollars 'stretching their investment' in that 810 and 520. Programming for speed not function, working around limitations, and waiting for things to run. For 25% of that amount they have a shiny new machine with performance, a warranty, the ability to call for support and fixes!

Best laugh was yesterday when they said "It feels so AWESOME to be on the latest and greatest releases!" Then I told them about i 7.3. :-) Even so they now can focus on enhancements for the business not patching and fixing and hoping it will stay running.


- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 4/13/2016 3:08 PM, John Yeung wrote:

On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 2:46 PM, DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Given those things, any Python code you write for the i (at least for
quite a while) will be run using iSeriesPython. And that is an
implementation of Python 2.7, with little or no prospect of ever
having a 3.x version.

Well except for the part about them already delivering Python 3.0 today. :-)
5733-OPS Option 2. Just install it, it's FREE!!!

Larry, this is the thing that I think you and Rob and some of the
other regulars seem to always dismiss:

In the real world, there are some shops that *for whatever reason* are
on old versions of the operating system. Unsupported, yes. Expensive
to maintain, so why not just get the new one already and even SAVE
money by doing so? Yes, yes, yes, of course. Yes to everything.

But you know what? That doesn't change the fact that some shops are
STILL on old versions. For them, "simply installing 5733-OPS" entails
a full OS migration. The reality on the ground is: It's not always a
trivial thing to "just install it, it's free!".

Even when you have the right operating system, installing 5733-OPS is
not always a trivial thing. Did you read Rob's account of his
experience? Yes, he wound up probably updating/installing some stuff
that he didn't strictly need to, greatly prolonging the process. But
it was anything but trivial, and if Rob can have that kind of long,
tedious, confusing experience, then surely anyone else can too.

John Y.