RE: /FREE RPG compiler errors -- RPG400-L

Wow Joe - that is an impressive resume!  I commend your efforts!

I had no intention of directing that comment in your direction or of you
taking that comment as a personal criticism - I apologize that's how it
seemed.  By you own admission, you have taken it upon yourself to learn
new technologies (JSP, HTML, etc.) - so I still stand by my comment: you
are one of those programmers who have the desire to be something more.  

This comment was more directed towards the green-screen RPG programmers
who are content with being just that - green-screen RPG programmers.  I
know and have worked with several of them.  They are the ones that will
always hold our kind back because they refuse to use the latest
technology.  (BTW, ILE and RPGIV is no longer the *latest* tech - it is
nearly 10 years old now!)  Because of these individuals, IT shops have
set their coding standards to the "lowest common denominator" - usually
excluding ILE and RPGIV, much less /Free!

The argument (excuse) I usually get from these people is that there is
not a business need to convert to RPGIV and that the next person who
came along behind them may not understand the code.  To those points, I
say bull*!  RPGIV is a definite improvement over RPGIII, and I believe
/Free to be an improvement over fixed columns!  For the poor sap who
comes along behind me who doesn't understand my free-format - then to
put it bluntly - he's not doing his job.

It is all of our responsibilities to stay current.

Joe, you may not like /Free, but what would you do with it if you had to
maintain a /Free program that someone else wrote?  Please don't tell me
that you'd convert it back to fixed columns?!?!?

p.s. I obviously don't consider /Free a "passing fashion"!  I have
chosen it as our shop standard for new development and will stand by
that choice.  IBM will continue to improve upon it with each new release
and it will continue to improve (i.e. SQL support!)

Bob Cagle
IT Manager
Lynk, Inc.
Phone: 913-492-9202 ext 41
Fax: 913-894-1556
BCagle@LynkInc.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Pluta [mailto:joepluta@PlutaBrothers.com] 
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 3:00 PM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: RE: /FREE RPG compiler errors

> From: Bob Cagle
>
> I have made an observation here, but it appears that most of the
members
> of this mailing list are the programmers who are not just willing, but
> desire to push our own abilities.  I believe this to be a *must have*
> skill to achieve longevity in our chosen careers as RPG professionals.
> Learning, utilizing, and becoming expert at ILE RPGIV, including
/free,
> is a part of this process.

This is comment that absolutely KILLS me.  <ROTFLMAO>

By this you are implying that my dislike of free-form RPG is due to my
lack
of desire to push my own abilities, or to push the envelope of
programming.
That I perhaps am unable to assimilate the new format.  That I am, in
fact,
afraid to learn new things.

If so, you might be a teeny bit off target with that implication.  This
may
sound self-serving, but I've got a reasonably impressive resume when it
comes to new technology.  Among the things I have developed or
co-developed:
the first standalone asynchronous communications device for the S/3X
family,
the first commercial client/server application on the S/38, the first
multi-platform graphical applications using OS/2 and the AS/400, the
most
successful automatic correction of Y2K bugs in RPG, the first commercial
Java-based application on the AS/400 and my latest, the automatic
conversion
of 5250 applications to HTML.

I don't just write JavaServer Pages - I write code that writes JSPs.  So
it's not that I don't push my own abilities.  It's just that not every
new
technology is worth it.  I give you Enterprise JavaBeans as a perfect
example.  EJB is a bust for just about anything short of a complete
application rewrite.  Yet a year or so ago it was the holy grail.  Right
now, there is a vocal minority pushing free-form, yet it can't even
properly
handle SQL.  So, for me, the jury is out, and it ain't because I'm
afraid of
change.  It's because not all change is good, and until something is
proven,
it's not a *must have*.

One last point, as far as the fine folks in Toronto have said so far, it
is
my understanding that free-form is meant to be an "alternate", not a
"replacement", to RPG IV, at least for the foreseeable future.  I may be
wrong in that.  I'd like to hear that particular comment from Barbara or
Hans.

Anyway, it's opinion at this point.  But I'd appreciate you not getting
out
the walkers for those of us who don't jump on every latest buzzword.
Maybe
because we're older we don't embrace every passing fashion.  Instead, we
conserve our energy for the RIGHT new technologies <grin>.

Joe

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