RE: Using OO concepts in RPG

And one more point.  None of this is personal, it's business.

The only thing I took personally was this: the post that started this was
not an opinion.  All it was, was a call for people to weigh in with what
they thought might be good things to add to the language.  I even mentioned
collaborating perhaps to create service programs.  I wasn't questioning Hans
or pushing my view of the world.  I simply set out what I would like to see
and asked for other opinions.  Instead, you jumped me with your opinion that
RPG is no place for anything other than reports, and Hans made his
pronouncement that nothing he considers to be OO will get in the language in
the foreseeable future.  It's as if anything I say, you two will pounce, and
yeah, I take that a little bit personally.

Other than that, though, this is all business.  I am simply stating my views
on what is strategically sound or unsound, and asking for opinions from
other people.

So why don't I like your opinion? Because I find them strategically unsound.

I think extended printing support for RPG is not needed.  For extended
pretty printing, I'd rather see support for XML/XSLT (including FOP) with
the idea of letting a PC do the hard work of turning character data to
pixels.  I'd rather not waste the very expensive cycles of the iSeries on
something a PC can do nearly for free.  The only issue is for people who
communicate directly from their iSeries to network attached printers, I'll
be honest that I don't know the solution, but I wouldn't spend a ton of
money fixing it, because strategically I think a dedicated PC is cheaper
than the cycles you'll use on the iSeries.

I think generating HTML in RPG is wrong, for a number of reasons which I've
stated in the past.  I think servlets and JavaServer Pages do a much better
job, and I seem to be in the majority view there.

I think comparing a teletype to a modern 5250 application is wrong.  I think
RPG has evolved considerably since the days when the primary input was an
MFCU or a 3741 diskette punch.  I think OLTP applications changed the
interface entirely, and took RPG to a place where it's primary job was more
of interactively working with a user than simply presenting tables of data.

But if you look at each of these points, they're said without rancor.  Other
than your consistent lambasting of everything I even suggest, I take none of
this personally.  I'm trying to see what is needed by the community.  I
acknowledge your point that for some clients extended printing support might
be helpful, but I still think there may be changes to the system that are
needed more, and that's what I was asking about.

Anyway, hopefully people will weigh in on this issue.  If you're right and
the majority of people think that extended printing support is the most
important need for the iSeries, then I'm willing to bow out of the
conversation gracefully.

Happy Mother's Day, one and all.  Time to go take my wife and sister-in-law
to brunch.  I hope you all have as nice a day as I plan on having!

Joe