Re: Tools you use for Development and Prototyping -- RPG400-L

> HI I am interested in hearing about tools that are in use
> at your shop. This is for developer productivity as well
> as on prototyping.

If I recall, you are in an RPG III-only situation.  There is no question
that using RPG IV has made me more productive.  I also use Code/400 (since
replaced by WDCSi - the WebSphere Developer Studio Client for iSeries.)  No
development effort should be done without a good cross reference package
like Hawkeye's Pathfinder or ASC's Abstract/Probe.  Source version control
and change management packages can take much of the sting out of deploying
changes to production.  Bug tracking software can help you find the code
that needs the most attention.

> We have a tremendous backlog of projects. As well, for
> reports to improve the time req. is a problem because the
> system is rampant with hard coding. How is this issue
> resolved if ever?

Stop hard coding!  That sounds flippant, but it is not.  You personally must
stop hard coding and start using /COPY members (for constants) or
configuration files (for system set-up).  The others in your organisation
will follow you because it is much easier to make changes that way.  The
very next program you maintain, make an effort to move one hard coded
element out of the program.  The point is that you do NOT need to wait for
some long, drawn-out process to complete before you can start making
improvements.

As long as I'm this far, I feel compelled to speak for a moment on the area
your group probably needs the greatest improvement in.  It isn't RPG; no,
not IV or /free or even III.  Not DDS or CL or SQL.  In fact, it isn't a
programming language at all.  Lots of people think there is a silver bullet:
'If I learn THIS thing, I will be a thousand fold better!'  Unfortunately,
it doesn't work that way.  Your group needs to become accomplished in the
various arts of being a programmer; that is, to learn the fundamentals and
then USE them.

I like Steve McConnell's book Code Complete, but there are many others.
Lest you think I am lecturing from some ivoury tower, I started out on
System/3 in 1978.  I am quite familiar with the RPG II cycle and have
written matching record programs from scratch - that is, from a blank piece
of paper.  I have no university education at all and learnt RPG by reading
the reference manual.  I would argue that I didn't learn to _program_ until
I learnt several other languages and read several thousand pages of
programming texts.  The point of this is to let you know that I have been in
your shoes and that if I can do it, anybody can.  Literally.  It takes hard
work (you MUST set aside time to learn and you MUST use what you learn) but
it is very do-able.

Good luck!
  --buck