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

Simon,

I completely disagree with your view that the slow rate of ILE adoption is
due to a bad attitude.  That shows a condescension that is unbecoming.
Those of us who participate in these lists already show a commitment to
thier carreers.  even the lurkers.  We spend time here and at other venues
because we want to learn, further our careers, better our skills and to
help others do the same. The lack of ILE adoption has everything to do with
darkness and little to do with laziness.

Simply having access to a 400 and playing around with ILE concepts aren't
enough.  I know the syntax and complile options.  but it's like a fry cook
being given a list of ingredients and being expected to create a soufflé
without directions.  I need to know if what I'm doing is going to cause
problems when implemented under durress.  One guy testing an application
won't tell me that.

I posted a question here and in the web400 list earlier this week.  It
described a CGI environment and asked for guidance on activation groups.

A couple of folks tried to help, but the majority of initial postings were
people correcting the folks who tried to help me.  in total, I got some
really good help on understanding AGs, though, without any personal
practical experience, a lot of it still went over my head - and it still
felt like I was reading a manual, instead of getting real insight from
those who have experienced the benefits.  This tells me that for even those
who seem to know what they're doing, it's still a trial and error, rather
than an exact science.

And I have yet to hear even an opinion on how to handle my specific
circumstances.  The only thing I'm sure of, is that I have the potential to
have a complete performance dog, and only guesses as to what would make it
better.  And, I feel, only about 1% of anybody listening to me now, could
even hazzard to guess which way would be best.

I'll be rolling out a web app next month that will be used by more than 300
users right out of the box, and they will be hitting it all at once, during
the same period of day.  Under the best of curcumstances, it will take them
a few hours to finish thier work and then won't touch the system again till
next month.  The app will be running on the company's production box.

There is no way I can predict how this will behave when they all start
banging it at once.  I'd like to be able to experiment with named AGs, or
*new, or whatever, but I can't in good conscience subject my client to me
'guessing' what would be the right configuration.  And I'm sure that once
it's out there running, they aren't going to want to pay me to play around
and test different AG schemes to improve performance, unless it's turns out
to be a complete dog.  In which case, I still look bad.

This, isn't an attitude problem, it's a practicality problem.  I'm probably
only going to get one chance to do this right, and my instincts just tell
me to complile everything with the system defaults, and pray for the best.

Just like I've always done....

Rick

---original message---
Hello Peter,

<snip>
The attitude exhibited by your post is typical of most AS/400 programmers
and indeed is part of the problem with the slow rate of adoption by our
community.  Too many AS/400 programmer's think they're in a JOB rather than
a CAREER and expect their employer to fund all their education.

Buy an ILE or RPG IV book and read it, subscribe to News/400 (or whatever
its now), if you are in the US you probably qualify for a free subscripton
to IBM's iSeries magazine.  Even without access to an AS/400 you can still
learn things, improve your skills, and -- shock horror -- might be able to
see where these new things would assist with your current work and then
actually get paid to use them.  Well Goooolllly!

Regards,
Simon Coulter.