RE: Why we don't use procedures more (was MOVE opcode in freeform / strangebehavior w/%editc)

Buck and Bob,

I agree that the onus is on me to train myself.  I have never blamed the
boss for not learning new things - I always just did it myself.  I too
never went to college.  I took a cobol class at a community college and a 6
month trade school gig (about two months of which was actual coding - the
rest was accounting and weak 'related studies'.  I've been to company paid
training 4 times in 19 years.  Everything else, I've learned on my own
(through here, and other on-line venues or just getting my hands dirty and
doing it).  I visit the midrange archives 3 or 4 times a week, the ibm
manuals website (NOT infocenter - it sux) twice or three times that.  I'm
not lazy (as long as you don't ask my wife).

I've had 3 IT jobs in 19 years, two of them in non-hourly 'project'
consulting and my current one in hourly contracting.  I've been the boss,
I've been the employer, and I've been the peon (now, i'm the peon :)  but
I'd never made less money one year than the last until last year.

All my new development is in RPGIV, I've personally written three
'real-world' RPG-CGI web apps and designed and project-managed another (all
are still being use and continue to provide value to the customers). That
puts me in the company of about 5% of the of the AS/400 programmer/analyst
world.

I'm as good or better P/A as I've ever worked with, and that's no brag,
it's because I work harder, longer AND I have the desire and ability to
grasp new things and keep up with the times.

But I've just had a real block on the ile stuff.  I bought a book on it a
couple years ago - but I just couldn't get through it.  There are now 100
ways to set up one of these beasts (service pgm, bound, by reference, by
copy, prototyping, procedures, sub-procedures, bifs, activation groups).
I've got nothing to base any decision on. I've nothing to compare it to.

Just take a look at the few posts to my questions about activation groups
today... a couple were from people who tried to help me understand, and the
rest were people correcting what someone else had said that was wrong.

What does that say to me?  Few people truely know what they're doing and
why, and of those that do know, few can articulate it well enough to
explain it to someone who doesn't.

anyway, I've had my rant,  I really do appreciate the help I get here.  I'd
go nuts if I didn't have it.

ttfn,

rick

----original message----
Bob said:

>This is stuff you should be doing on your own,
>even with your own money.
>
>It is the right thing to do.

AMEN!

Most certainly I never had a job where the boss said "Hey, don't worry
about
the deadlines, take a week or so and go tinker."  It took me 23 years to
make it to Common!

I am... let's politely say 'well seasoned,' starting on card equipment.  I
have no university education.  I learnt literally  e v e r y  thing I know
by myself, and virtually all on my own time.  I have a library of books
bought with my own after tax dollars - and not all AS/400 books either.
K&R, Knuth, etc. as well as our friends in the midrange world.  I have an
account on one of the timeshare machines to play on.  I use Code/400 and
before that Picante's Flex and before that Brief.  All paid for by me.

If I don't keep my skills current, what choices will I have for work next
year?  In 1978, I could run a 1403 blindfolded (I was GOOD!)  If I merely
maintained my awesome 1403 talent I'd be out of work, as the 1403's are
almost all gone.

I have a family, house, etc., etc., etc.  I value my ability to feed my
family, so I make time to keep up.  If I can do it, anybody can.  If
there's
one wish I have, it's that I could really, truly convince midrange
programmers that THEY CAN DO IT!

GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!
  --buck