On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 5:41 PM, Buck Calabro <kc2hiz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 5/9/2016 2:36 PM, John Yeung wrote:
In particular, POI and Scott's wrappers are very popular in the i
community. Most of the i community doesn't even know what Python is.
Scott wrote several articles in trade magazines (remember those?) and
that triggered the interest. Java is supplied by IBM, and plenty of
people put great store in that. That large audience attracted quite a
few people to the idea of RPG + Java + POI/HSSF. Having completely
worked examples tends to instill confidence in a person.
Absolutely. If only Python had a user and advocate of Scott's caliber,
I think Python on the i would be a lot more popular, befitting its
status outside the midrange community as one of the top few languages
in the world.
The iSeries Python web site
http://www.iseriespython.com/app/ispMain.py/Start?job=Home hasn't got a
worked spreadsheet example.
It doesn't. And unfortunately, the examples that it does have (for
doing other tasks) are either out of date or for tasks less people are
interested in.
Jon and Susan wrote an article in July 2015
http://ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/developer/general/different-world-python/
which mentions spreadsheet capability, but again, has no fully worked
example.
True. Though it's tough to put a "fully worked example" into an
introductory article, especially of the length and breadth Jon was
going for.
I did try:
http://iseriespython.blogspot.ca/2013/05/copy-physical-file-to-excel-in-9-lines.html
http://iseriespython.blogspot.ca/2013/06/installing-python-packages-like.html
(Those are reachable by the "Blog" tab on iseriespython.com.)
Yes, that probably doesn't qualify as "fully worked", but if you try
it, it does produce an actual, usable Excel file at the end. (I am
actually blocked from viewing my own Blogger posts at work, so I can't
even check the particulars at the moment; you probably have to supply
your own filename and maybe other values that are specific to your own
system.)
The wiki http://wiki.midrange.com/index.php/Python has a spartan look,
but leads to an IT Jungle series by Garry Taylor in 2010-2011 which is a
pretty nice IBM i oriented look, but still, no spreadsheet.
http://www.itjungle.com/fhg/fhg082510-story01.html
http://www.itjungle.com/fhg/fhg110310-story01.html
http://www.itjungle.com/fhg/fhg051811-story01.html
It's "nice" I guess. I very much appreciated Garry's attempt. But it's
also unfortunately out of date, plus it has some misinformation (i.e.
facts that were *never* true about Python or iSeriesPython), and
because the Web pages they're on destroy leading spaces, the code
examples are neither usable nor illustrative.
I totally get that if I want things to change, I have to work on them
myself. So I don't mean to complain or make excuses. But I'm in an
awkward position because, even aside from the same time availability
issues that everyone has, Python on the i is in a weird state of flux.
IBM has quietly announced open source Option 4 - Python 2, to go along
with the existing Option 2 - Python 3. (So Jon's article is already on
the verge of being out of date on a few points.) And I can't easily
get access to either of those Pythons, so I can't blog about them with
any accuracy. (Do any of the on-line i providers offer them?) And
there will be a segment of the midrange community for which
iSeriesPython will remain the best Python option for at least several
years, if not indefinitely.
Well, I'll keep plugging away as best I can. Sorry if I ruffle some
feathers. I'm actively trying not to.
John Y.
midrange.com
