Re: eRPG (was: RE: Quick survey - how well structured are your RPG apps?)

Oh good, this is a more interesting religous debate than DOU
vs DOW. I have to disagree somewhat with you Hans.
I think the perception is that it's easier and cooler to write
in JSP, servlets or even Net.Data. Using CGI must be bad
and RPG even worse. I've tried all of these methods and I
still think that CGI/RPG is better in many cases. One is that
I can use xref tools like Hawkeye. Another is that RPGers
can support these apps without learning Net.Data or Java.
You can store your static HTML in files on the IFS and merge
them in your dynamic pages. You can also use the API's to
regenerate static pages periodically so you get the benefits
of up-to-date pages without the penalty for dynamic access.
Sites that are getting very large hit rates can obviously
benefit from Java. This is not the case for many small and
medium sized shops who support thier entire enterprise with
small IT staffs. Creating persistence in CGI/RPG is no more
difficult than Net.Data. Is Java the future? Most likely. That's
why I'm spending so much time learning it. OTOH, I'll still
promote CGI/RPG as the best solution for small companies
with minimal staff who need some exposure on the web.

>3) "Is RPG/CGI a good way to implement a web-based user
>interface?"  If you asked most of us here in RPG
>development I think the consensus would be no, it's not.
>You know the old saw:  Use the right tool for the job.
>There are simply lots of other tools that are more
>appropriate for defining user interfaces.  Look, most
>AS/400 programmers are quite comfortable using DDS to
>define their green-screen UI's.  Writing out HTML from an
>RPG program is almost like writing raw 5250 data streams!
>Tools like JSP's, Java servlets, Net.Data, and even Perl
>are simply much more apppropriate for web-based UI's, and
>offer functionality not easily available using direct API
>calls.  For example, JSP's, servlets, and Net.Data provide
>easy functionality for managing session state that make it
>easy to commit database updates at the end of the
>transaction.
>
>I agree that writing a CGI app in RPG is an easy way for an
>RPG programmer to get something on the web quickly, but it
>will be a hindrance once you need to implement something
>more sophisticated.

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