Re: RPG vs. Java vs. C++

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Management wonders if these programs were rewritten in C++ or Java if it
> would have a positive effect on the server?

Boy, this is a really complicated question to answer.  There's nothing 
about C++ that makes it intrinsically faster than RPG or vice-versa. It 
has to do with how well the code is written.

You can easily say "RPG programmers are more focused on business issues" 
and "C++ programmers are more focused on technology issues."  While that 
might be true a lot of the time, it's a generalization.

It's like saying "Italian's make better pasta, Mexican's make better 
torillas."  It's a generalization!  I'm sure that the best pasta maker in 
Mexico makes better pasta than the worst one in Italy.

RPG programmers are generally much more focused on business issues than 
they are on their code because of the culture surrounding the IBM midrange 
computers over the past few decades.

Likewise, C / C++ programmers have probably spent most of their time 
working on systems where understanding the technology behind the system 
was more important to them than business issues.

So, if you look at it that way, C++ programmers will write faster running 
code than RPG programmers. Not by virtue of the language, but by virtue of 
a better knowledge of how computers work and what will run well on them.

If you find an RPG programmer with that knowledge (and there are several 
on this mailing list) then they'll also write very efficient programs.

Regarding Java...  Due to the way it works, it *IS* intrinsically slower 
than either C++ or RPG. It's strength is portability, and increasingly 
there are a ton of programmers and tools available for it -- but speed and 
efficiency are not it's strengths.  The general philosophy is that it's 
cheaper to buy a faster machine than it is to re-write your applications.