Re[4]: Retrieve system time

[eric.delong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

     It's hard to say. She's new to this company, though I know she was 
     a programmer at her last job at one point. I'm certain she has 
     never coded in RPGIV. 
     
     This morning, a firecall came in on one of the RPGIV programs. She 
     wanted to assign it to one of the junior programmers, but she 
     couldn't because they don't know IV. The new policy is to start 
     exposing the  newbies to IV immediately. That does not change our 
     policy regarding conversion, but its a step in the right direction.
     
     Some problems I have with this shop:
     1) Reactive mindset. Any and all change to our apps is driven 
     exclusively by our end-users. They decide what the problems are and 
     their priority. If I find a problem in a program, I can't proceed 
     to fix it until the users sign off on it. I often cannot expand the 
     scope of a change/fix to take care of other/potential/future 
     problems that I can foresee.
     
     2) Limited resources. With only two programmers actively using 
     RPGIV, and resistance by others in the department to learn/use it, 
     there's not enough bodies to manage code maintenance  This will be 
     relieved greatly if we can get the newbies up to speed.
     
     3) Shop coding standards out of date. Most of our coding and naming 
     standards are more than ten years old. Most have never been changed 
     to include new technology, and most were never "comprehensive" to 
     begin with.
     
     4) Rogue factor (or geek factor). I'm very vocal about the AS400. 
     They (for the most part) think I'm a nut. Even among the RPG 
     programmers here, I'm considered a bit outlandish. People are 
     reluctant to take my word for it. I research new technology (cause 
     I like it) and try to apply it as appropriate. That leaves me 
     breaking new ground that some of the others are reluctant to try.
     
     To me most of this exposes a lack of direction in our development 
     efforts. End users identify features they want or bugs to be fixed. 
     IS needs to set the standards and goals of our apps. I see glimmers 
     of hope on the horizon, but it looks like a long, bumpy road from 
     here to there......
     
     eric.delong@pmsi-services.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: Re[2]: Retrieve system time  
Author:  <RPG400-L@MIDRANGE.COM> at INET_WACO
Date:    5/26/00 7:14 AM


Hoo boy--you immediately add value by converting to RPGIV.  I'm sure you 
know that.  The date handling, larger arrays, and static binding make it 
well worth it.  Then there's the much improved string handling.  
     
I assume your management persons haven't written any code in a while. <g> 
     
-----Original Message-----
From: eric.delong@pmsi-services.com
[mailto:eric.delong@pmsi-services.com] 
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 3:15 PM 
To: RPG400-L@MIDRANGE.COM
Subject: Re[2]: Retrieve system time 
     
     
     
     So it would seem, though I get CONSIDERABLE resistance here 
     whenever I mention converting apps to RPGIV. My manager and one of 
     the other senior programmers here look at me like I'm sprouting 
     horns or something when I bring it up. Their number one excuse is 
     "we need to teach the junior programmers RPGIII before we confuse 
     them with RPGIV." What a load! Both of the jr programmers seem 
     interested in IV, willing to learn it. Two of us are using it for 
     all new apps, occasionally converting from III to IV if (big if) we 
     can prove that the conversion adds value to the program. So far, 
     relatively few conversions have been allowed due to managements 
     reluctance to this "new stuff". BAH!
     
     eric.delong@pmsi-services.com
     
     
______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Retrieve system time 
Author:  <RPG400-L@MIDRANGE.COM> at INET_WACO 
Date:    5/25/00 8:30 AM
     
     
I guess that would be one more reason to start using RPGIV.  I have seen no 
rational reason not to switch from RPGIII to RPGIV (other than "It's a 3rd 
party package and we don't own it.")
     
John Carr
     
     
John,
Would be sweet, if only Paula were using RPG IV.  Which, sadly, she isn't. 
Joep Beckeringh
     
     
>
>
>
> Even better than below,   Now the Target(result field) can be a Time, 
Date,
> or Timestamp data type.   Sweet.  No more numeric field targets. 
>
> John Carr
     
     
     
     
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