Re: Cloud and the future of IBM i

Hello John,

Am 06.03.2020 um 17:48 schrieb John Yeung <gallium.arsenide@xxxxxxxxx>:

As far as I know, RPG is the best and most unique of the "native" IBM i languages.

Granted.

If we are talking about "fresh" brains for *new projects* (maybe unique to IBM i because it can't be done easily on other platforms), RPG is irrelevant as are CL and REXX. Outside the IBM world, there is no RPG, no CL and no REXX. C/C++ is a common ground which is available on IBM *and* common platforms. It's widely known and once was very famous.

For maintaining *existing* software on IBM i, there's no way get get around RPG. But that wasn't the point, Rob was mentioning. His conclusion

I really do not think that anyone with no exposure to it would learn it anyway on their own without an immediate opportunity to put it into use.
[…]

So I do not think that peddling free or near to free Power systems loaded with IBM i is going to flood the markets with new RPG programmers.

leads me to the point asserting that nobody un-knowingly about IBM i would be taking classes in RPG without being forced. But programmers already skilled in C and C++ *are* available and it's "just" a matter of raising interest in about there's more than Linux and Windows.

And *this* couldn't be done without the invaluable service of people like Holger.

The remaining problem is how to convince these fresh brains that it's worth looking at the platform because it is *not* old-fashioned, just like Linux and Windows aren't perceived old-fashioned because they have a command line.

(Honestly, I know some guys how are like "if you really *know* how to divide a problem in small steps to feed to a computer to build a solution, the exact programming language is mostly a matter of personal taste than a functional decision (aka, can't be done with language foobar)."

:wq! PoC

PGP-Key: DDD3 4ABF 6413 38DE - https://www.pocnet.net/poc-key.asc