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Joe, Not entirely true........ I agree that WDSc is price heavy for someone wanting to learn RPG. For that matter, ASNA's AVR is also pricey. This isn't a knock on the products as I do use both daily and, while I might work for a large financial institution, I personally forked over the monies for AVR. Why? Because I WANTED to extend my RPG skills to the Windows arena. Key word, wanted. I question if individuals would learn RPG simply because they "wanted" to. Of course this lack of "want" is simply because they don't understand the language and the arena it plays in. Now, if I "wanted" to learn RPG, I wouldn't buy WDSc. To pricey. I probably wouldn't buy AVR either as its ActiveX support can confuse a beginner (i.e. this isn't native to RPG). There's also the price issue. Now, WDSc and AVR might be the big (best?) players on the RPG team but there are others that are more price competitive. One that comes to mind is from Trident. Now I've never used the product so I can not atest to its functionality and/or native RPG features but, if I "wanted" to learn RPG, I'm not limited to IBM and ASNA. I actually took this approach 15+ years ago when I personnaly purchased a product called Native/400. Company has long since disappeared but my objective in purchasing the product was to strengthen my RPG skills (without having to go to the office to use a terminal). >From my vantage point, the question is why would anyone "want" to learn RPG. How is easy as there a vendors, authors and "lists" for the interested. But why? What's the market for the RPG skill set? This is where I think the future of the RPG language lays. It's great that companies like ASNA, IBM, California Software and Trident have enabled RPG on other platforms. It's also encouraging that enhancements continue to be made to a "dead" language. But what's the market? It can't be limited to use iSeries professionals. Why? Because we're already there. We know of RPG. We use RPG. We rely on RPG. For someone who doesn't know iSeries, what do they know of RPG? The current generation does not know of RPG as a "Report Program Generator". Never mind the fact that it's name doesn't adequately depict the full scope of the language, nut we can't change that. Perhaps the time has come to better market or advertise (?) the robustness of the latest iteration of the language. Just my humble view..... MichaelR -----Original Message----- From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Joe Pluta Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 8:37 PM To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries' Subject: RE: New RPG programmers > From: Tom Liotta > > Jon: > > I'm not sure where you got that impression; I said "...I don't currently > foresee myself buying WDSC compilers and tools anyway". Now, I suppose > that _could_ be taken to mean that I don't foresee it 'because I already > have them'; but that wouldn't be true. I don't foresee it actually because > they cost more than I want to pay just for my own personal use. I think Jon's point is that if you are developing for the iSeries, you have access to the tools. The WDS licensed program includes unlimited licenses to WDSC, so if you are working on an iSeries, you should be able to ask the owner nicely for a copy of WDSC. OTOH, I see the point that if you DON'T have an iSeries, WDSC is not cheap. So for someone who isn't already on the iSeries, there really isn't an "entry level" RPG. Joe -- 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.
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