RE: Future of AS/400 ??????????????:(: -- RPG400-L



On Tue, 16 Jan 2001, Richard Jackson wrote:

> Appearently I was not clear.  Based on personal experience, it is my opinion
> that AS/400 is not a major player as a web server or, more specifically, as
> a server generating or delivering HTML or running server-side scripts
> triggered by web-based applications.  Based on personal experience, it is my
> opinion that C is the root of all the languages used for web application
> programming (whether they are CGI, Java, or anything else).
> 

You keep referring to "CGI" as a language for web application programming
(or, at least, this is the 2nd time I've seen it from you)

CGI is not a language.  Its an interface for a web server to call a
program and pass data to that program, and get data back.  It stands for
"Common Gateway Interface".   

Or are you talking about something else?

Anyway, most CGI scripts on UNIX machines are written in Perl or C.  The
UNIX programmer is used to writing in C, much like we are used to RPG.
UNIX still dominates the web server market. 

Perl is a good choice for CGI.  Its an excellent language for
parsing/manipulating strings.  It doesn't have the buffer-overflow
security risks that C does.  You don't have to compile it (which is a huge
issue if you're using a 3rd-party ISP to host your web pages, since you 
don't need telnet access and the security issues associated with telnet)

If you're running your own web server on an AS/400, RPG would be a better
solution than either, IMHO, because of the tight integration with
database functions and the fact that most AS/400 shops already have RPG
programmers.


> Continuing in my effort to be clear, I am not opposed to RPG in these roles
> nor do I assert that RPG cannot do well in these roles.  Based on personal
> experience, it is my opinion that C, Java, etc are the current winners.  I
> will advise customers and make personal training and career decisions based
> on that opinion.  

Who ARE all these people who use Java for all these things?  Every other
message on an AS/400 forum talks about how Java is taking over and
everyone is switching to it.   I've noticed two things:  1) PC & UNIX
people stopped talking about Java 3 years ago.  Only AS/400 people still
babble about it.  2) I've never seen a significant piece of software
written in Java.

I know IBM's burger flipping ad from a few years ago pissed off a lot of
RPG programmers -- but isn't it time to stop overreacting to it, yet?



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