RE: "No one writes RPG anymore" or the Emperor's new clothes. (was RE: Using the QzshSystem Qshell API)

> From: Phil
>
> All I can say is I code new stuff in RPG all the time.  Weekdays,
> weekends,
> weeknights, holidays, right this moment in fact.

Except for the servlet stuff that formats the HTML, my entire PSC400 product
is written in RPG.  This includes not only the parts that modify the source,
but also the parts that generate the XML and JSP code used by the servlets!
I directly access APIs from RPG to do everything from writing IFS files to
retrieving field definitions.  Oh, and I even through in a little <GASP>
CLLE!

Heck, the first version of the tool was written in RPG III!  And it worked
just fine.  However, there are a couple of areas where RPG IV is far
superior - string handling and API calls being two.  RPG is far from dead -
instead it's just coming into its own as far as I'm concerned.  As long as
they don't muck around with the basics - native DB2/400 I/O and simple data
manipulation - then RPG is going to be my language of choice for business
logic probably until I die.

I know many people insist on OOP, but OOP doesn't have any advantages (and
in fact has a few crucial disadvantages) when writing procedural code.  And
until we as a community figure out how to properly define business
procedures in OO terms, business logic will be procedural in nature, and RPG
is the best procedural language out there.

Joe