RE: New RPG programmers

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Mike Eovino
> 
> > 3) Cannot goto wal-mart to buy a pc and install OS/400 on it.  If
I'm a
> programmer that want
> > to start a software company but do not have a lot to invest, I would
> probably go for
> > something cheap (Java, mySql...).
> 
> Frankly, that one is huge in my book.  If I were a business with some
> IT skill and not much cash, I'd use PHP, mySQL and a cheap web hosting
> account from some place like GoDaddy.  That's why PHP has such a
> following.
> 
> If I were writing fat client apps, I'd probably download Sun's Java
> IDE and use that.  Now there is IBM's VARPG and ASNA's VRPG, but
> neither get much press and both cost $$.  Programmers like to play
> when they learn (that's how I learned), but the iSeries and RPG are a
> pretty pricey playground.

I'd like to address this point.  This idea that anyone can download Java
from the Internet and learn how to program OO is simply unrealistic.
Heck, there aren't many programmers who can do that, much less "lay
people".  Yes, you can download PHP and MySQL and develop an amateur web
application.  You can also go to Home Depot, watch This Old House, and
put up a deck.  But I'm sure as hell not going to let you build my house
if that's all you've ever done.

Programming is the only professional endeavor I can think of where you
compare someone with no real world experience to someone with 20 years,
and where someone who has been programming for a couple of years out of
college has the temerity to tell someone with two decades of experience
that they're wrong just because they're not following the latest
buzzword.  Unless you've got as many happy users as I have, you really
haven't got much except intellectual knowledge.  As my buddies used to
say, "You got a lotta book learnin', but no common sense." 

Professional programming is a skill that is learned and honed over years
and even decades.  Understanding how to convert spoken thoughts into
bug-free code is something that takes a long time to master.  While just
about anybody can throw together a VB web site, only a professional
programmer can write one that's robust enough to handle design changes
and meet deadlines.

The new "methodologies" and "concepts" are often completely at odds with
the real business of computers, which is meeting user requireemnts.  For
example, one of the reasons Extreme Programming has such a following is
that their ARE NO FIRM DEADLINES.  Try passing that off in the real
world.

Joe