Re: Request for CL, DDS, SQL RPG enhancements

Hello Rick,

You wrote (cluttered in HTML crap):
>Simon: I concur with Jeff. We were asked to submit suggestions to
>improve the existing software and from I have been reading, I would find
>many of them quite useful.

I agree that some enhancements to CL are long overdue but my point is
that there is an existing, free alternative you've had available for over
10 years.  You should consider using it in place of CL -- not everything
but use it where appropriate.

> To suggest using REXX at my shop would meet with opposition. While a
>few developers would probably like to learn REXX, sadly many would not.
>Support of REXX applications would become an issue.

Well my answer to that is: F*** them!  It is not their job to say what
tools will and won't be used.  Rexx is not difficult to learn and even
easier to modify.  This argument smacks of the same recalcitrance that
surrounds the move to RPG IV.  Any existing RPG III (/400) programmer who
cannot see the benefits of RPG IV (and ILE) and doesn't want to start
using it immediately is an idiot not worth the salary they are
collecting.

I'm not interested in arguments from people who say they'd like to use it
but couldn't because their manager wouldn't let them, or they have a
package written in RPG III and so can't move.  That is a different
argument and not entirely valid in my view.  Even shops with packaged
sofware write in-house programs and they don't have to be restricted to
the package requirements.  Managers who fail to grasp the benefits should
be lobbied until they do (or until the programmer finds a more
enlightened shop).

Opposition to new things is common.  Very few of us can truly see
something new as it is.  Some new things are beneficial and some are not.
Discerning the difference is a talent.  However, the IT industry is a
hotbed of change (not all of it good) where IT practitioners are expected
to learn new things as part of their job.  So if you have programmers who
don't want to learn, who continue to use ancient techniques where better
alternatives exist, and who refuse to advance themselves, then f** 'em!
Sack them and get new people who are better.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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