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Booth wrote:
>Why doesn't the compiler make the port?  I believe its the famous "W" code
>that makes the whole idea of ILE work in the first place?  If I understood
>the concept of ILE it was that there'd be a top and a bottom of the work
>file.  The bottom would fit the various hardware platforms but have a
common
>top side.  The compilers would write the top, so all the various languages
>at the top side would all compile to a common bottom interface.
>
>Now... if the iseries and pseries hardware is able to merge... why can't
we
>compile directly to either the iSeries or the pSeries?

Firstly, it's a matter of the cost of resources versus expected
benefits.  A Unix/Linux port would benefit RPG shops that want to
port their apps to Unix/Linux environments.  But I think it's
fair to say that few Unix/Linux users would want to try it given
the depth and range of other programming tools available.  The
cost of porting the compiler and supporting its users would not
be cheap.  W-Code is just one interface the compiler counts on.

Secondly, RPG IV is very much tied in with capabilities of the
OS/400, such as its database and data areas and activation groups
and workstation DDS.  These things could be simulated of course,
but there would almost certainly be some areas where support is
less than 100% of what's available in OS/400, which would make a
port more problematical.  And any time you have to consider
changing code, you might as well consider a total rewrite
anyways.

Remember SAA RPG?

BTW, someone asked why not an Intel port of OS/400.  I think the
main problem with that idea is that, just as RPG is intimately
tied to OS/400, OS/400 is intimately tied to the underlying CPU
architecture.  Just think about tagged pointers and single level
store and the cost of simulating these on other CPU's. (Although
technically it's an interesting concept, single level store has
not caught on in the rest of the computer industry.)

Cheers!  Hans

Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com



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