RE: RPG and Web.. (was Using OO concepts in RPG)

<Jeff>
When does a carpenter have enough tools in his/her toolbox such that 
buying another and learning how to use it is not really necessary?  When 
does an IT person have enough 'tools' in his/her toolbox such that 
buying/learning another is not really necessary as opposed to making do 
with what is already known?  I argue that is a very tough question on a 
very complex issue that has a unique answer for every carpenter and for 
every IT person.
</Jeff>

When I see my competition down the street getting more business than me
building houses because they have air nailers and I only have a hammer, I
start to wonder if I should purchase an air nailer.  If I get an air nailer
then I need to get an air compressor.  If I get an air compressor I now need
to buy a generator.

It is the cost of doing business in a fast pace economy.  We don't keep
customers because we require them to have an AS/400 and talk to us over *SNA
with fixed length stream files.  We tell them that we can accept pretty much
anything they give us because we want that big check from them.

If RPG meets all of your needs great, but I think a lot of businesses have
some wacko customer requirements and at some points it just doesn't make
sense to try and fit a square peg into a round hole.

Hope we aren't butchering analogy's too much:-)

Aaron Bartell

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Crosby [mailto:jlcrosby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 1:10 PM
To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: RPG and Web.. (was Using OO concepts in RPG)


Hans Boldt wrote:

> To be fair, that's not an unreasonable argument. But I still like 
> playing devil's advocate, so here goes a counter argument:
> 
> Let's say your competitor down the road has a staff of two developers 
> fluent in tools that provide a definite productivity improvement. That 
> may well translate into a competitive edge for that other company. What 
> does your company do then? Push your IT staff to work harder to keep up 
> with the competition? Cut the education budget for your IT staff 
> further? Cut corners elsewhere in your company?

At what point does an IT person need to put a 'hold' on learning yet 
another programming language or latest IT stuff so he/she can actually 
learn something about the _business_?  We're all mortal and can only 
cram so much into our little heads, at least in my case.  I argue that 
at some point my being thoroughly knowledgeable about the food 
distribution business is far more beneficial to my company when I write 
software than what programming language I used.  The fact that I got it 
done and "it's just what I wanted!" is what is important.

When does a carpenter have enough tools in his/her toolbox such that 
buying another and learning how to use it is not really necessary?  When 
does an IT person have enough 'tools' in his/her toolbox such that 
buying/learning another is not really necessary as opposed to making do 
with what is already known?  I argue that is a very tough question on a 
very complex issue that has a unique answer for every carpenter and for 
every IT person.

-- 
Jeff Crosby
Dilgard Frozen Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 13369
Ft. Wayne, IN 46868-3369
260-422-7531

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily
the opinion of my company.  Unless I say so.



_______________________________________________
This is the RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries (RPG400-L) mailing list
To post a message email: RPG400-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/rpg400-l
or email: RPG400-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/rpg400-l.